ING to slash 2,300 jobs in Netherlands, 7,000 across Benelux

ING is cutting a total of 7 thousand jobs across the Benelux region, the bank announced on Monday. The Netherlands is losing 2,300 jobs and Belgium is losing 3,100, the Volkskrant reports.

ING currently employs 52 thousand people, 14,700 of which in the Netherlands. This is not the first round of layoffs at the bank. In 2008 the bank still employed 75 thousand people, according to the newspaper.

Reinier Castelein of union De Unie is shocked by the large number of layoffs, which will happen between now and 2021. "We understand that due to digitalization and automation jobs must disappear", he said to the Volkskrant. "But we need to see how we can get these people back to work in a different way."

Last year Rabobank announced that it wants to cut 10 thousand jobs by 2020 In September ABN Amro announced a reorganization that will cost between 975 and 1,375 jobs by 2020.