Nykredit bank is hoping its latest austerity plan entitled ‘NyKredit 2015’ will save the company half a billion kroner. Some of that savings will come at a human cost, with some 300 managerial and staff positions being cut.

“The reduction will take place through dismissals and by not refilling vacancies,” the company said in a statement. “In the immediate future, and in accordance with the rules, Nykredit will initiate a dialogue with the staff organisation concerning the reduction.”

Nykredit hopes to grow its earnings by one billion kroner by 2016.

“It is natural that Nykredit – in the wake of the financial crisis, increased regulation from parliament and the EU, new requirements from rating agencies and a Denmark with moderate growth – adapts and develops its business track,” said Nykredit Group head Michael Rasmussen in a statement.

Employees taking the hit
Nykredit employees said that they are suffering for corporate incompetence.

“We understand that we have to adapt to current conditions,” Leif Vinther, the head of Nykredit’s employee association, said in a statement. “But we are clearly unhappy that once again, less than two years after the last round of layoffs, it is the employees who are penalised for a lack of due diligence and co-ordination within the company.”

Nykredit cut 125 jobs in January 2012.

“Michael Rasmussen talks a lot about integrity, and we expect this will also be true during the  process we are now faced with,” said Vinther.

Nykredit is the largest Danish provider of mortgages, serving over one million customers through its Nykredit and Totalkredit branches.