Staff reductions at Íslandsbanki

Íslandsbanki announced today that the bank has reduced staffing following its acquisition of Byr. 42 employees were made redundant, and an additional 21 employees have either taken early retirement, or took voluntary redundancy. Therefore, a total of 63 current employees, including some on temporary contracts, will leave the merged bank at the end of November.

Íslandsbanki has agreed with an employment counselling company to offer job-seeking assistance to the employees in question. The Bank has committed to keep Staff Representatives, employees and the Confederation of Icelandic Bank and Finance Employees informed about the process.

Íslandbanki acknowledges that these measures are painful, but are part of a necessary rationalisation of the banking sector in Iceland. The market for banking services in the country has historically been overbanked, and consequently inefficient. The industry as a whole is becoming increasingly competitive, whilst at the same time dealing with increasing taxation and public levies on financial undertakings.

It is therefore necessary to ensure that Íslandsbanki's operational costs are kept as low as possible in order to offer the best value to its customers, particularly at a time when the trading environment is still in a state of recovery.

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