ING Group to Cut 7,000 Jobs

[Pale Blue Dot]

Source: New York Times

PARIS — In the latest wave of retrenchment by global banks, ING Group, the Dutch financial services company, said Monday that it would cut 7,000 jobs this year and that its chief executive would step down as it seeks government guarantees for toxic mortgage debt.

At the same time, the British bank Barclays and BNP Paribas in France sought to reassure investors about their 2008 earnings.

The announcements Monday came as the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, said he would invite top executives of the world’s largest banks to London confer on the global financial crisis in advance of an April 2 meeting of Group of 20 leaders.

Mr. Brown said the government would propose a “charter of principles” governing financial institutions, and that “the measures that then flow from that, whether in relation to hedge funds or derivatives or other financial products, will be in line with principles of transparency and proper disclosure and people assessing and managing their risks.”

ING, which in October took 10 billion euros, or about $13 billion, from the Dutch government to bolster its capital, said it expected to post a 2008 full year net loss of about 1 billion euros. Jan Hommen, the former chief financial officer of Philips Electronics and currently chairman of the ING board, would succeed Michel Tilmant as chief executive, the bank said in a statement.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/business/worldbusiness/27euro.html?ref=business

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We're up to 52,000 job cuts announced before noon today. And that's only the major ones.

[CrispyQ]

1. And the Dow is up.

Shareholders don't care if the neighborhood across town is decimated due to job loss as long as they get their quarterly profit. The rich are killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

[OhioChick]

2. The rich get richer and the poor become poorer.

K&R

[Azlady]

3. and poorer and poorer.....

[naaman fletcher]

4. I don't get all worked up..

over layoffs as much as most here. Economies go up and down, companies expand and contract. But, companies taking money from the government to supposedly help the economy should not be laying people off.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

5. If you were getting laid off, I expect you'd "get all worked up"

They're not just random figures. They're peoples lives.