State-owned Dutch bank ABN AMRO is to cut 400 jobs, about 2 per cent of its workforce, as it prepares for an eventual sale, Reuters reported. The bank, which on May 17 posted first-quarter results hit by bad loans in its home market, said the cuts are part of a reorganisation of its commercial and merchant banking division and will mostly be through natural attrition and reallocation.

ABN AMRO, which was partly bought by Belgian group Fortis in 2007, was nationalised by the Dutch state a year later as part of the bailout of Fortis. It now generates the bulk of its business in the recession-hit Netherlands.

The coalition government that took office in November wants to return ABN AMRO to the markets but has not set a date. It has said it would consider options other than a full public listing of ABN AMRO to recoup as much as possible of the funds paid to nationalise the bank.

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