Banks sack 1,400 staff on breakfast news

The callous cuts came from Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks whose Australian bosses announced the decision during their daytime - our night-time.

National Australia Bank (NAB) said 1,400 jobs were going by September 2015, following a strategic review which it announced in February.

The overhaul shrinks the size of its 8,300-strong British workforce by 17 per cent.

Only workers at its financial solutions centres are being hit by the plan, with staff at its 337 retail branches escaping the axe.

It's closing 29 of its 73 centres - and consolidating nine with retail operations - and six back-office locations.

The closures include four centres in Scotland where fewer than 60 workers are affected.

Unite national officer David Fleming said the NAB announcement was "nothing short of brutal" for the British workforce.

He said: "Unite finds it disgusting that the company decided to release a statement from Australia in the middle of the night so UK staff would wake up to hear that their jobs are being cut through the morning news reports.

"This is not the behaviour of a responsible or credible organisation."

Clydesdale and Yorkshire will now focus on retail operations in Scotland and northern England.

NAB group chief executive officer Cameron Clyne said: "In the last half year there has been a significant downgrade in the growth prospects of the UK economy.

"In addition, the commercial property market, which had previously seen signs of recovery, has recently experienced a 'double dip' as the recovery stalls."

The two banks racked up a £25 million loss in the first half of the year, compared with a £77m profit in the previous year, reflecting a higher charge on bad debts and higher funding costs.

Yorkshire Bank was founded in 1859 in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and has 185 retail branches, while Glasgow-based Clydesdale, which was bought by NAB in 1987, has 152 outlets.

tonyp@peoples-press.com