Rabobank to cut jobs and shed assets to boost profit

Dutch co-operative bank Rabobank plans to lay off nearly a fifth of its workforce to boost profits and prepare for tougher European banking guidelines.

The bank said it would shed 9,000 of its 47,000 staff by 2018 and would cut €150 billion worth of assets from its balance sheet by 2020, to comply with a rulebook known as Basel IV intended to help make banks more resilient to economic and market shocks.

The bank is refocusing on its roots in agricultural lending and will reduce mortgage and commercial lending.

Rabobank is the latest in a list of banks to axe thousands of jobs this year.

Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, HSBC, and Standard Chartered have all announced plans for hefty job culls, adding to big cuts from the likes of Barclays, UBS, RBS, and Lloyds.

Rabobank, which competes with ING and ABN Amro in the Dutch market, in August reported first-half earnings of €1.5bn, up 41% year-on-year and helped by a fall in bad loans and a rebounding Dutch economy.

The bank’s cuts come weeks after ABN refloated its shares seven years after being nationalised during the financial crisis.

ABN, once the world’s 14th largest bank, slashed tens of thousands of jobs in recent years and has refocused on the Dutch market.

ING, also bailed out in 2008, sold off operations including its insurance arm.