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DNB boss believes the workforce will be cut in half

DNB services stress testDNB logo. Photo Norway Today Media.

DNB chief executive Rune Bjerke says DNB’s 10,000 employees and officers are lucky if they will be more than 5,000 in five years. He believes it will be a miracle if the bank has more than 5,000 employees in ten years.

It was at a conference on governance in the state that the DNB chief executive Rune Bjerke aired his views on the bank’s future, infront of 800 employees in ministries and government agencies, reports newspaper Dagens Næringsliv.
– I have no idea how DNB will look in 2025. But if we do not manage to be more profitable and have better technology than the competition, workplaces will become unsafe – that I can promise, said the CEO.
New technology is causing the bank’s future to look uncertain. Digitization, online banking and telephone contact is causing the branches to close, and Bjerke predicts that robots can come to take care of a large part of the customer service ahead.
Communications Director Thomas Midteide denies that Bjerkes statements can be interpreted as a new, concrete cutting plan for the bank.
“We have no specific plans to cut jobs in DNB, but there are going to be fewer employees in the future due to changes in customer behavior and digitization,” he writes in an email to the newspaper.
On the Bank’s website it states that DNB has 10,900 employees, while in 2011 the number was around 14,000.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today