Dutch ABN Amro is due to cut about 800 of its 2,500 jobs in its CIB business banking unit and withdraw from its activities outside Europe. CEO Robert Swaak said the bank would focus on the Netherlands and northwestern Europe. At the same time, corporate and institutional banking (CIB) banks will end all non-European corporate banking activities, and its core activities will be discontinued in the next three to four years. The bank, which remains 56% in government hands, reported a net loss of €5 million in the second quarter of this year, despite cutting costs by 8%. ABN Amro recorded a loss of €395 million in the first three months of this year, its first quarterly loss for in 6.5 years. Much of that is being blamed on CIB.
