April 23, 2024

DealBook: Credit Agricole to Eliminate Up to 2,300 Jobs

PARIS — Crédit Agricole is planning to cut as many as 2,300 jobs as it scales back to adapt to a changed global environment, a union leader said on Wednesday.

“It’s clear that at least 1,700 jobs will go at the corporate and investment bank,” said Régis Dos Santos, head of the French national banking union, the Syndicat National de la Banque, which learned of the plans from the bank’s management. An additional 600 jobs could be eliminated from the consumer side of the business, he added.

The cuts are a result of the broad fallout from the sovereign debt crisis, which is wreaking havoc from Europe to Wall Street. Like its French rival Société Générale, which is planning to eliminate jobs in New York, Crédit Agricole needs to reduce its balance sheet and exit risky businesses.

American money-market funds have been cutting their exposure to European banks over concerns about the euro, making some dollar-denominated businesses untenable.

On Friday, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Crédit Agricole, along with Société Générale and BNP Paribas, citing funding problems. The ratings agency also warned that the banks faced further losses on their holdings of Greek and Italian government bonds if the crisis in the euro zone were to deepen.

Mr. Dos Santos said he expected Crédit Agricole to release a statement offering more detail after the close of trading in Paris. Anne-Sophie Gentil, a spokeswoman for the bank, said she was unable to comment.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=c35fe6aa6919a4913017c65b8f5d564a