COPENHAGEN: Denmark's biggest lender Danske Bank will cut around 50 positions from its division that deals with corporate finance and trades instruments such as fixed income in an effort to reduce costs, it told Reuters on Wednesday.
Danske Bank, once the Nordic region's largest bank by market capitalisation, was particularly hard hit by Europe's financial crisis and has struggled to keep up with rivals on key metrics such as return on equity and allocated capital. Analysts have said improving the Corporates & Institutions (C&I) business is key to the bank achieving its near-term group return on equity target of 9 percent by 2015 and a long-term target of 12 percent.
"This is part of an ongoing streamlining of the business to ensure our platform remains competitive," the head of Human Resources in C&I Danske Bank, Kristin Torgersen, wrote in an email.
Last year the bank cut 150 positions in the division, which by the end of 2014 employed 1,643 people. The C&I division made a profit before tax of 4.1 billion Danish crowns ($608 million) in 2014, 23 percent higher than in 2013.
Danske Bank will publish its first-quarter report on Thursday. Reports from three of Denmark's top four banks - Jyske, Sydbank and Spar Nord - showed negative interest rates have been a boon for some Danish banks as a jump in fees from homeowners refinancing their mortgages offset the hit to interest income.
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