ABN Amro staff in America were recently sent a “welcome package” by RBS including branded keyrings and “factsheets”. London staff aren’t being embraced with quite such… brio.
The bloodletting in ABN’s London office began on Monday, continuing through Tuesday and Wednesday. Some departments are expecting to see around two-thirds of employees cut.
FT Alphaville understands that ABN’s entire London merchant banking operation has been sacked, along with deep cuts in real estate.
Juniors in the debt capital markets outfit have already been ditched and the entire mortgage securitization team was given the boot on Tuesday.
According to two senior execs, leveraged finance is up for the chop on Thursday. “It’s going to be messy” we were told. “It’s like a morgue in here.”
So far, the cuts are being blamed on “market conditions”, though that veil might not hold up for long. In terms of headline numbers, job losses aren’t quite near the levels seen elsewhere in the City… yet.
Presumeably the real pain begins when the focus shifts fully to “integration”.
Fintag, meanwhile, points to the novel approach to firing RBS have adopted in some quarters:
Instead of only those being fired getting a call from HR, everyone gets a call. Up you go to HR and if the all clear is given you are back at your desk in 5 minutes. The purpose is to terrify everybody but not stigmatise those who don’t come back.
ABN declined to comment, et cetera.
15.00 Update: Another 90 gone from the trading floor, we hear…
