Ulster Bank first of the financials to shed jobs

ULSTER BANK is to axe 750 jobs and is to merge First Active, its mortgage and investment business, into its general banking operations in the south.

These are the first job losses to be announced in the struggling banking sector undermined by the credit crunch and the slump in the housing market.

It will mean the end of the First Active brand which was acquired by Ulster in 2003. Under the plan, 550 jobs will go in the Republic and 200 in the North.