100 jobs to go at city bank HQ
OWNERS TO MAKE CHANGES AMID HUGE RESTRUCTURE
THE new owners of Virgin Money are planning to axe 100 jobs at its Newcastle headquarters as part of a massive restructuring following its takeover by CYBG.
The cuts are being carried out at the bank’s Gosforth office, which was previously the headquarters of Northern Rock.
Virgin Money said it was making the redundances to get rid of “duplicate” roles within its business, after it became part of the CYBG banking group.
In total, 330 jobs are being put at risk across the CYBG group, with 100 being lost at the bank’s main Gosforth office. Around 2,150 people currently work at the Newcastle site.
Despite the changes, a Virgin Money spokesman said the bank “remained committed to the Gosforth office” and had no plans to close the site. Gosforth is one of Virgin Money’s key operational centres and served as its head office before the takeover.
Along with the jobs losses in Newcastle, Virgin Money also revealed it will close its office in Norwich which will be shut by the end of October 2020.
The bank said a number of roles will continue to operate in the city, but will eventually be moved to a new location.
Virgin Money’s Edinburgh office will also be closed by the end of 2019. The Edinburgh and Norwich offices currently each have 100 employees.
The last closure to take place will be CYBG’s Yorkshire Bank office on Merrion Way in Leeds, which currently employs 750 people, which will be closed by September 2021.
Its corporate office will be merged into its flagship store and corporate office on Briggate in Leeds city centre. The office will later be rebranded to Virgin Money.
The job losses announced yesterday do not include the redundancies that will be made at the Leeds branch.
CYBG CEO David Duffy said: “The consolidation of our operating centres supports our goal to create a more streamlined and efficient business – focusing on two key operational centres in Glasgow and Newcastle, supported by teams based in Leeds, Edinburgh, Chester and London. “Detailed planning is in place to ensure that the Bank is able to safely transfer operations to the major hubs over time, while continuing to provide the same great service for our customers every day.
“We recognise that some exit dates are quite far in the future, however, we want to be open with colleagues and give them clarity on changes as soon as possible. They are our key priority and we will support them through this change with as much choice and flexibility as possible.”
The merger between CYBG and Virgin Money was revealed last year, and at the time the company admitted it would be cutting roles across the combined business.
A spokesman for the bank said the redundancies are being made to get rid of “duplicate roles” within the new expanded company
CYBG previously said it expects to make around 16% of its workforce redundant in total – around 1,500 jobs.