AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch bank ABN Amro (AS:ABNd) said on Wednesday it would shed 250 jobs as it shrinks its international corporate bank activities to increase profitability.
ABN said it would focus its Corporate and Institutional Banking (CIB) division to higher-yielding activities, such as lending to Dutch corporations, clearing and private equity.
"To improve profitability, capital allocated to CIB will be reduced. This will predominantly be in global sectors, mainly in trade and commodity finance," Chief Executive Kees van Dijkhuizen said in a statement.
ABN in December last year said it would weigh the future of its corporate bank, as new regulations hurt profitability by requiring banks to hold more capital for assets with a relatively high risk.
The cut in corporate activities will reduce the risk-weighted assets on ABN's balance sheet by 5 billion euros ($5.81 billion) by 2020, the bank said, to 34 billion euros.
The division had around 2,600 employees at the end of June and delivered 11 percent of ABN's total net profit in the second quarter.
ABN Amro on Wednesday reported a 28 percent fall in second-quarter net profit at 688 million euros ($799.5 million), but beat analysts' average expectation in a Reuters poll of 562 million euros.
