PTSB needs to find three times the estimated €21 million of annual savings it will achieve from cutting 300 jobs this year if it is to reach its own cost target, according to Goodbody stockbrokers.
The estimated savings from the redundancy programme is based off the average €70,000 cost per full-time PTSB employee as of last year, said Denis McGoldrick, an analyst with Goodbody, which is owned by AIB.
“This will go a good way to the bank moving its cost base from the €535 million guided for 2024 to its target of €500 million in 2026. However, further material cost-cutting measures will be required if it is to still achieve its cost income-ratio target of 60 per cent in 2026,” Mr McGoldrick said.
The analyst said PTSB would need to reduce its cost base to €470 million to achieve its target, based off his estimate that the bank’s total income will come to €705 million next year.
That points to €65 million of savings in total, including the €21 million from the current redundancy scheme.
PTSB confirmed to The Irish Times on Friday that the group, led by chief executive Eamonn Crowley, plans to cut around 300 jobs over the course of this year after receiving a strong level of applications for a voluntary redundancy scheme launched two months ago. Sources said the scheme had been heavily oversubscribed. However, the spokeswoman said the bank “has no plans to launch further schemes in the near-term”.
There had been speculation among union officials that as many as 500 positions could be eliminated under the plan.
Mr McGoldrick said that PTSB will have a chance when it unveils annual results on March 4th to outline its latest thinking on how its cost-income targets will be achieved.
The number of staff exiting, including about 20 senior managers, equates to 9.3 per cent of PTSB’s 3,240-strong workforce as of the middle of last year.
PTSB’s workforce grew by 850 to 3,240 full-time equivalents over the four years to last June after taking on hundreds of Ulster Bank staff and retaining others hired on temporary contracts to deal with a growth in customers.
However, its cost base is out of kilter with those of its two larger rivals. PTSB’s total income per employee stood at about €219,000 in 2023, according to calculations based on the bank’s average staff numbers. Bank of Ireland’s ratio was almost €420,000 and AIB’s nearly €465,000.
The average among western European banks was just shy of €400,000, according to US management consulting firm Kearney.
PTSB’s running expenses equated to 66 per cent of income in 2024, well above the 39 per cent and 42 per cent posted by AIB and Bank of Ireland respectively.
While PTSB previously targeted a ratio of 55 per cent in 2025, it backed away from that early last year and set a target of 60 per cent for 2026.
But with the European Central Bank cutting rates more quickly than expected – unveiling a fifth quarter of a percentage point reduction since June last month and setting the scene for more reductions next year – that revised target was also looking optimistic without cost-cutting actions, according to analysts.
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