The Netherlands’ biggest bank, ABN Amro, is to cut at least 500 head-office jobs in order to reduce costs. ABN Amro made the announcement this morning, along with the presentation of its latest figures.

The bank booked net profit of €1.14 billion in the third quarter, compared with €1.2 billion in
the year-earlier period. Last year’s earnings were boosted by one-offs such as the sale of Brazilian insurance activities. Nevertheless, the results would need to improve rapidly in order to meet targets, chairman Rijkman Groenink said. The jobs will be partly undertaken by contracting out services.