Ulster Bank has said it will be looking for more voluntary redundancies after reporting a loss of £8m sterling in the first six months of this year.
Chief executive Cormac McCarthy said the bank intended to seek another 250 voluntary lay-offs, saying a similar scheme introduced in January was 'very heavily over-subscribed'. At that time, the bank said it was looking for 750 job cuts.
Mr McCarthy also said Ulster Bank's parent bank Royal Bank of Scotland had set up a division to separately manage a pool of assets and businesses which would be sold off, restructured or run down over time. 'Ulster Bank has identified certain assets which will be included in this division,' he said. He told RTE radio these would include loans for development land and certain mortgage products.
The new-look Ulster Bank has offloaded €15 billion of its loan portfolio to its parent Royal Bank of Scotland, and says it is taking substantial steps to address the challenges facing the business.
Ulster Bank made a loss of £8m in the six-month period, due to a jump in loan losses to £157m. £107m of this related to business loans. Profit before these impairment losses fell to £149m from £190m a year earlier. Impaired loans as a percentage of total loans rose from 0.1% a year earlier to 0.8%, and Ulster Bank said these were expected to rise in the second half.
In the first half of the year, Ulster Bank's total lending to customers was flat, with mortgage lending up 2%, but deposits fell 17% to £18.9 billion.
Interest income fell 8% to £410m. Its margins were up slightly, but the bank said some easing of wholesale funding costs was largely offset by the increased cost of attracting and holding customer deposits.
The IBOA union called news of further job cuts 'profoundly disappointing'. General secretary Larry Broderick said senior management has indicated to it that the Corporate Markets and Central Services divisions would be the focus for this new round of job losses. 'The proposed cuts will be the subject of full negotiation and agreement,' he added.