UniCredit CEO says no numbers yet on potential lay-offs
MILAN (Reuters) - UniCredit Chief Executive Federico Ghizzoni declined to comment on Thursday on a report that the Italian bank was mulling more than 10,000 lay-offs saying there were no specific figures yet on the table.
"I do not comment because we are going to present our plan in November or in any case by the end of the year. We are working on it, it's not the moment to talk, we still don't have concrete numbers ourselves," he said on the sidelines of an event.
Bloomberg reported earlier on Thursday the Italian bank, the country's biggest by assets, was considering cutting at least 10,000 jobs as it reviews its strategic plan.
UniCredit, which employs 146,600 people and operates in 17 countries, has already announced 2,700 job cuts by 2018 that still need to be implemented.
The lender is reworking a five-year strategic plan, unveiled less than 18 months ago, to boost revenues and cut costs. Two union sources said the group had not discussed additional job cuts with unions.
The bank is under pressure to bolster its financial strength and cut costs - particularly in Germany and Austria - to allay once and for all market concerns that it may need to launch a capital increase, something Ghizzoni has repeatedly denied.
(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro; writing by Danilo Masoni)
