ING to cut another 2,400 jobs in the Netherlands and Belgium

Dutch banking and insurance group ING announced another 2,400 job cuts, in the Netherlands and Belgium, as it prepares to separate its banking and insurance operations against a backdrop of tough financial markets.

Several European banks including Deutsche Bank and Swiss bank UBS have also shed staff in recent months in a reassessment of their businesses after the financial crisis.

The latest round of layoffs at ING follows a similar announcement as recently as November and brings the cuts in the past 15 months to 7,500 or roughly 9 per cent of the Dutch group's total headcount at the end of December.

ING on Wednesday reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter net profit of €1.434 billion, up 21 per cent from a year ago thanks to gains from divestments.

But underlying pre-tax profit for the banking operations was €184 million, down 72 per cent from a year ago, while the insurance unit turned from a loss of €1.51bn to an underlying pre-tax profit of €272m.

* Reuters