Anglo halves staff costs

Considering the fact that Anglo Irish Bank has just posted a pre-tax loss of €4.1bn for the last six-month period, it's not surprisingly focusing on cost-cutting. Employee numbers are down (slightly), but with bonuses eliminated staff costs have more than halved.

Anglo now employs 1,695 people across the group, which is down from 1,922 this time last year. However the majority of this headcount reduction came through the sale of its Austrian and Swiss private banking business.

Bonuses have been completely eliminated, which has had a severe impact on wage costs. In the six months to 31 March 2008, it had spent €76m on salaries and variable compensation, a figure which shrank to €35m this year.

The state is set to inject €4bn into Anglo, suggesting there's unlikely to be a need for any widespread redundancies going forward.

Donal O'Connor, executive chairman of Anglo, described the staff as "exceptional" during a period of extreme turbulence.

"The next year is going to be very challenging and the board is confident in the capability and

strength of our people to achieve the restructuring and rebuilding of the bank and its reputation," he said.