(Australia) – National Australia Bank (NAB) is cutting 2,050 jobs (4.6 percent of its headcount) over the next 18 months chasing a target of A$370 million in cost reductions by September 2004.The Bank has repeated its EPS growth target of 7-10 percent for the year to September 2002 inclusive of A$290 million in new capital expenditure for its UK and Australian wealth management businesses.
NAB is refocussing on its core markets of Australia, New Zealand and the UK after the Bank’s offshore expansion in the 1990’s that produced US$2.2 billion in writedowns last year on its US HomeSide Lending acquisition.
The Bank is taking up a provision of A$175-225 million in its 2001/02 year to cover the staff cuts including 1,500 Australian based redundancies.