ABN AMRO Plans 6,500 Job Cuts...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[Is your job being affected by the global meltdown? Tell us your story at yourstory@bworldmail.com Dutch state-controlled bank ABN AMRO plans to cut 6,500 jobs over three years and cut costs 20 percent, labour union CNV said on Tuesday. A spokesman for the company said he had not seen the CNV statement and could not comment. The Dutch government bought struggling Fortis Bank Nederland last October, including its interests in ABN AMRO. As of late December the state replaced Fortis as a shareholder of the entity that manages the bank. The government's plan is ultimately to combine Fortis Bank Nederland and ABN AMRO and then sell the newly unified bank. It brought in former Dutch finance minister Gerrit Zalm in to run the new group. It was not immediately clear what percentage of the new group the job cuts would represent. ABN AMRO had 57,000 staff globally at the end of 2008, while Fortis Bank Nederland had just under 10,000 employees. (Reuters)