International banks trimming Irish workforce

It might not be a massive surprise considering the grim outlook for these companies globally, but both Citigroup and Merrill Lynch are rumoured to be trimming their Irish workforce.

Citigroup announced before Christmas that it was set to reduce its global workforce by 52,000. In Ireland, it employs 2,200 people, which makes it the largest foreign bank employer in the country.

The Irish Independent reports that staff have been told to expect redundancies in the wake of a €50m slump in revenues within the satellite office. Exact numbers were not revealed but it's thought that the aim is to cut-costs by shipping jobs out to lower cost destinations.

Rumours surrounding Merrill Lynch have been more explicit over the number of job cuts and the (slight) good news is that they are unlikely to be deep.

RTE ran unconfirmed reports that 31 of the 700 Merrill Lynch staff in the Republic are facing redundancy.

Globally, the combined Bank of America/Merrill Lynch entity is due to shed 30,0000-35,000 jobs over the next two years.