Alliance & Leicester Takeover Could Spark Job Cuts

The Alliance & Leicester takeover could mean losses in the range of hundreds of jobs. Santander publicly announced a £1.3 billion takeover bid yesterday. Their future plans will involve a merger of A&L with Abbey, their 2004 acquisition. For now the deal looks like a sure thing as it holds support from A&L’s board. The deal will give them control of 959 branches in the UK with a hold of 8% of the savings and loan market in the United Kingdom.

That doesn’t quell the fears of big job losses though. These fears were particularly enhanced when Santander claimed that £180 million would be saved in the yearly budget just by combining the back office work. David Bennett, A&L’s CEO, also claimed that he couldn’t guarantee that there’d be no job losses involved with the merger.

The losses will most likely hit the members of A&L’s large 8,000 employee staff. This includes 2,000 employees stationed by their headquarters in Leicestershire and 1,500 in their Liverpool branch. The rest are spread across nearly 250 separate branches.

Union officials are very aware of the danger and swear to fight any layoff efforts. Top officials are also demanding that finite announcements be made by management.Costumers can expect little change when it comes to service though.

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