The announcement by the leading Irish financial organization was given in a trading update issued in the run up to the completing of its financial year at the end of March.
The job cuts are part of an initiative to streamline business activities and to achieve greater efficiency through building IT infrastructure and a greater dependence on automation.
Bank of Ireland plans to achieve E30 million savings in 2005/06, increasing to E75 million in 2006/07, to E105 million in 2007/08, resulting in an annual reduction in costs of E120 million in 2008/09.
The 2,000 job redundancies are believed to involve back office staff and would represent an overall reduction of staff levels by a sixth. The bank currently employs 12,000 people in 300 branches.
The cost saving measures are being applied despite the bank predicting positive results for its fiscal year, including an increase in group profits of around 5%. However, competition is set to increase with Danske Bank, which recently bought National Irish Bank, announcing last week that it was to open additional branches, while HBOS is also planning an expansion of its Irish operations.
Commenting on the trading update, Brian Goggin, Group CEO, said: A strong performance is expected to deliver our 14th consecutive year of profit growth and we continue to be very well positioned in growing markets. This strong performance, however, does not make us complacent.
We plan to reduce our costs by an annual E120 million while also beginning to build a consolidated operating model, a model which will transform our support services and retail manufacturing infrastructure. This will enhance the competitiveness of the Bank of Ireland Group and enable us to capitalize on growth opportunities.
