SOCIETE Generale Australia will cut its staff levels by 30 per cent in 2009, a spokeswoman for the business said today.
The Australian workforce reduction will likely include both redundancies and relocations to Societe Generale’s Hong Kong operations.
The spokeswoman said SocGen Australia, which is the Australian operation of the French banking group Societe Generale, employs about 280 people.
“It would be crazy to say there will be no redundancies because obviously when you do something like this that does happen,” she said.
“But obviously the first point will be to trying to relocate people.”
The French bank closed the securitisation unit of its Australian-based operations early last year.
Last month, the French bank said it planned more measures to reduce costs, including potential job cuts and possibly merging the market activities at its corporate and investment division.
The company said at the time the measures should lift gross operating income by €400 million ($798 million) for 2009 and by around €1 billion for 2010.
The French bank also warned that the economic environment would remain challenging throughout the year after reporting its first-quarter earnings.
SocGen last month posted €87 million in fourth-quarter net profit compared with a €3.35 billion loss in the same period last year, resulting from the alleged trade scandal that shook the bank more than a year ago.
For the full year, SocGen made a €2.01 billion net profit compared with €947 million in 2007.
“The group has taken steps to adapt its businesses to the more uncertain environment,” SocGen chief Executive Frederic Oudea said last month.
theaustralian.news.com.au
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