Some 100 employees at Aktia are going to lose their jobs and ten of the bank's branches will be shuttered, the bank announced Monday.
Aktia said that after codetermination talks at Aktia Bank and Aktia Life Insurance, 260 positions were eliminated while 160 new posts were created, resulting in 100 employees losing their jobs.
The bank said it is merging office branches at Espoo centre, Espoonlahti, east Helsinki, Kannelmäki, Bromarv, Tenala, Kerava, Solf, Oravais and Nykarleby with nearby branches.
The changes at Aktia will be carried out in stages, the bank said, and the affected branch offices would close during this year.
The bank said 10 branches would serve as competence centres in the future: Karjaa, Espoo Tapiola, Helsinki Kolme Seppää, Vantaa Tikkurila, Porvoo, Turku, Tampere, Pietarsaari, Vaasa Torikonttori and Oulu.
The bank also announced that it is rebranding their branches as customer service units.
Plans to boost digital services
Aktia's president Martin Backman said that the bank plans to maintain a comprehensive network of branches and will improve digital services for customers.
"For banking services, the demand for individual services is increasing, and the need for traditional banking services is decreasing. These changes are made in order to be able to meet new demands. With the renewal we will strengthen our specialist organisation in order to give our customers a more qualified and tailored service and product offering," Backman said in a press release issued Monday.
"We expect that for the most part of the new job opportunities, we will find competent staff among our current employees," Backman said in the release.
Employer-employee negotiations began on September 4 and concluded September 22, the bank said.
