ABN Amro aims to cut number of top jobs

ABN Amro plans to cut 60 of its 100 senior management jobs and reduce the number of top executives by more than half in a revamp that reflects the bank’s shrinking size.

A new management board will include the heads of retail, commercial, corporate and institutional and private banking, the Amsterdam-based lender said in a statement on Monday. It will include CEO Kees van Dijkhuizen as well as the vicechairman and a chief financial officer who has not yet been appointed.

“ABN Amro has done a lot of restructuring and I think the top structure was not completely aligned with the rest of the company,” said Bart Horsten, an Amsterdam-based analyst at Kempen & Co who rates the stock buy. “It will make the company a bit more lean and mean in terms of decision making,” he said.

ABN Amro, which is 70% owned by the Dutch government following a state rescue, said in November it would cut 1,500 jobs as it steps up cost reductions. The bank, which employed 26,500 people in 2016, said its total workforce is expected to decline by 13% by 2020. The Dutch government has said it plans to gradually exit its holding in the bank.

Under the new structure, the composition of the remaining 40 executives will be reviewed annually. The number of executives on the managing board and the senior managing directors will be reduced to nine from 19. Chris Vogelzang will resign from his position as the management board member responsible for retail and private banking after eight years in the role, the bank said.

“In recent years, the bank’s total staff has decreased significantly, but the size of the senior management level has remained unchanged,” Van Dijkhuizen said.

“The structure and composition of the management level below the executive committee will be reviewed: reduced in size, with a stronger strategic involvement.”