HypoVereinsbank cuts 2,200 jobs

Germany's second-biggest bank is to cut another 2,200 jobs.

HypoVereinsbank says it has suffered a slump in third-quarter profits.

The lay-offs come on top of 7,500 cuts that the bank has already announced.

It plans to close 170 of its branches in 2002 and 2003, reducing the total to 610.

The bank has a total of 71,000 employees. HypoVereinsbank's latest announcement followed similar moves by other major German banks, which have been struggling with high costs and a slowing economy.

Last week, Commerzbank said it would drop 3,400 jobs and Deutsche Bank, the country's largest, has said it will shed 2,600 jobs by 2003.

Commerzbank is also cutting more than 200 retail branches.

Analyst Martin Haug at SAB AG in Frankfurt says: "This is a structural problem with German banks. There is a joke about German banks, that there are more bank branches than there are bakeries."

HypoVereinsbank says its net profit fell 48% in the third quarter from the previous quarter, to £42m from £82m.

The figure beat analysts' expectations, which ranged from £17m to £28m.

The bank noted that the US terror attacks had accelerated the existing slowdown, causing greater uncertainty in financial markets.