Pohjola Bank plc
Stock Exchange Release
10 December 2012, 2.00 pm
Pohjola's Information and Consultation of Employees Process Comes to an End
As part of Pohjola Group's reorganisation programme, the procedures for information and consultation of employees, as referred to in the Finnish Act on Co-operation within Undertakings, covering all Pohjola personnel groups have come to an end.
As a result, Pohjola Group will cut 281 jobs. Of these, redundancies will total 113 and 168 employees will leave the Group through other arrangements. In addition, 22 jobs will be outsourced to service providers outside OP-Pohjola Group. When the process began on 24 September 2012, the estimated layoffs amounted to a maximum of 310 and the estimated number of outsourced jobs was around 90.
Centralising processes and operations within OP-Pohjola Group Central Cooperative Consolidated forms an integral part of this reorganisation programme, whereby 618 employees will transfer from Pohjola Group to other companies within OP-Pohjola Group Central Cooperative Consolidated. The original proposal involved internal transfers of 580 Pohjola Group's employees to other companies within OP-Pohjola Group Central Cooperative Consolidated.
Pohjola Group had 3,424 employees at the end of September.
For Pohjola, the programme is aimed at achieving annual cost savings of around 50 million euros by the end of 2015, job cuts accounting for 40% of the estimated cost savings. The remaining cost savings will arise from eliminating overlapping activities and standardising practices within the framework of OP-Pohjola Group Central Cooperative Consolidated's reorganisation programme. The programme aims at annual cost savings of 150 million euros by the end of 2015.
Pohjola expects to achieve an estimated 50% of the total annual cost savings of 50 million euros in 2013, 30% in 2014 and the rest by the end of 2015. Non-life Insurance is anticipated to account for over 60% of the source of the cost savings, Banking for slightly over 30% and Asset Management for the rest.
OP-Pohjola Group Central Cooperative, Pohjola's parent institution, today issued its own press release on the termination of the negotiation process. Pohjola's figures are included in those covering the entire OP-Pohjola Group Central Cooperative Consolidated published by the parent institution.
For more information, please contact:
Mikael Silvennoinen, President and CEO, tel. +358 (0)10 252 2549
Carina Geber-Teir, Chief Communications Officer, tel. +358 (0)10 252 8394
Please contact the Newsroom for media contacts directly with any requests for interviews, tel. +358 (0)50 523 9904 or viestinta@op.fi.
Pohjola Bank plc
Carina Geber-Teir
Chief Communications Officer
DISTRIBUTION
NASDAQ OMX Helsinki
London Stock Exchange
SIX Swiss Exchange
Major media
pohjola.com, op.fi
Pohjola is a Finnish financial services group which provides its customers with banking, non-life insurance and asset management services. Our mission is to promote the prosperity, security and wellbeing of our customers. Profitable growth and an increase in company value form our key objectives. Pohjola Group serves corporate customers in Finland and abroad by providing an extensive range of financial, investment, cash-management and non-life insurance services. We offer non-life insurance and private banking services to private customers. Pohjola Series A shares have been listed on the Large Cap List of the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki since 1989. The number of shareholders totals around 34,000. Pohjola is part of OP-Pohjola Group, the leading financial services group in Finland, which has over four million customers.