Spain's biggest bank Santander plans to lay off 460 employees at its headquarters in Madrid on top of the 1,200 already announced as part of a country-wide restructuring plan, a union said on Friday. Under pressure to trim costs, Santander said last week it would close around 450 small domestic branches as part of the overhaul in response to rising regulatory costs and a push into digital services. Santander, which has around 24,000 staff in Spain, declined to comment.
Early retirements at Santander's Madrid headquarters would make up a small proportion of the proposed staff reductions while others would be offered payoffs to leave, the union UGT said in a statement after talks with the lender.
UGT said it would call on the bank to substantially reduce the number of lay-offs.
Spanish banks have been cutting costs since a 2012 financial crisis. Profits have since recovered, but Spain still has among the highest number of bank branches per person of any country in the world.
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