Co-op to lay off 1,000 workers
Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) has announced that it will lay off 1,000 employees this year in order to cut costs to fund a £250 million growth programme.The programme aims to expand the company's operations in retail, corporate banking and general insurance.CFS which consists of the Co-operative Bank and internet bank Smile, hopes to reduce its operating costs by £100 million by June 2008 and says the proposed redundancies are an important part of its cost reduction strategyThe company has not disclosed which departments will be affected by the redundancies but said that customer-facing roles will not be targeted for change.The company's chief executive David Anderson said: "Decisions taken which lead to a reduction in colleague numbers are not taken lightly and consultation is underway with all the relevant trades unions."Full support will be offered to all colleagues affected by these changes. CFS will aim to achieve some of these changes through voluntary means however the scale of the reorganisation will mean that compulsory redundancies are inevitable."He added that the proposed £250 million investment will help expand the company's customer and membership base. The CFS head said it was essential to remove "business processes which do not add value for our customers and members"."This will enable CFS to provide a comprehensive range of high quality products, delivered through a number of UK based service channels to an increasing number of co-operative customers and members," he added.
Share this..
Related stories
Commodities start to feel the pinch of the worldwide slowdown
News that Europe's second-largest steelmaker Corus is set to extend steel production cuts beyond the original date of December has caused some consternation in the commodities market. The company has confirmed plans to reduce production by around 30% during the next two quarters and then reassess the situation in the early part of 2009.
Companies such as Corus have been hit hard by...
OFT to investigate use of personal data by retail companies
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has today announced an investigation into the UK online retail arena with specific emphasis on behavioural pricing and the dissemination of data regarding customer Internet use. It is well-known that a number of UK online retailers use behaviour pricing to attract customers by taking into account data collected across the Internet. It is also known that many retail...
Read MoreThe Flexible Working Hours Double Edged Sword
While the government has been good to its promise and brought in a new law to give workers more flexibility in the hours which they work, there are many in the business sector that believe that this is an ill judged move with major implications. In basic terms the new laws will allow parents to work different hours to accommodate school time, etc and leave businesses to pick up the pieces. The...
Read MoreWho Will Be The Next BoE Deputy Governor?
As the Treasury and the Bank of England stumble from one difficult situation to the next, they will need to find a Deputy Governor as quickly as possible to take the place of Rachel Lomax. Despite a concerted effort to persuade Miss Lomax to take on the role for a second 5 year stint, she has remained true to her word that she would leave after her initial period was up and parts company in just...
Read MoreBank of England MPC set to maintain base rate at 0.5%
January's meeting of the Bank of England MPC is widely expected to see little change in the current policy with base rates set to remain at 0.5% and the quantitative easing program unchanged at £200 billion. However, there is a feeling that February could well be a crunch meeting for the MPC with a suggestion that inflation is starting to come to life, the manufacturing industry is improving but...
Read More