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Bank to lay off 230 workers

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Anglo Irish Bank is to lay off 230 staff
Scandal-hit Anglo Irish Bank is to lay off 230 staff across its operations.

The recession-hit lender, nationalised by the Irish Government early this year, plans to axe 110 workers in Ireland, 95 in the UK and 25 across the US and Europe.

Bosses blamed the cuts on a planned reduction in the size of the bank and the transfer of around 28 billion euro (£25 billion) in loans to the Irish Republic's so-called bad bank, the National Assets Management Agency (Nama).

Anglo Irish chiefs also warned a second phase of reductions will occur next year and in 2011.

The state-run bank's chief executive Mike Aynsley said radical cutbacks were needed to reduce costs and improve efficiency.

"Regrettably, we have to let people go as we reduce the size of the balance sheet and re-structure the bank," he said.

"This reality is tough on our staff who have worked exceptionally hard and have shown huge commitment over the years, most particularly over the recent, difficult months."

Anglo Irish was nationalised in January amid fears its collapse would be a major blow to the wider economy.

Its near failure was sparked by heavy lending to developers and investors during Ireland's property boom and later a secret loans scandal which saw billions of Euros transferred between Anglo's books and another finance house, Irish Life & Permanent.

Four senior executives resigned over the fiasco.

Several investigations, including a massive fraud inquiry, are under way.

The cuts begin on November 9 and are set to conclude next February, bringing the bank's workforce to around 1,300 people.

The redundancies form part of a total reduction of 470 staff since last September.

The sale of the bank's Vienna-based operation, natural attrition and the transfer of workers to the Nama unit have accounted for half of the reduction, with the newly-announced job cuts making up the remainder.

Anglo Irish is one of five institutions covered by the Nama plan, along with Bank of Ireland, AIB, EBS and Irish Nationwide.

The bank vowed to ensure as many workers as possible would be moved to an outsourcing group during the second phase of reductions, when bank processes and IT systems will be reviewed.

© Press Association

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