ABN AMRO’s three buyers are starting the task of cutting some 19,000 jobs, more than half of them in the Netherlands, while trying to keep revenue-generating stars from leaving, Reuters reports.
For Royal Bank of Scotland, which led the 71 billion euros acquisition with Belgian-Dutch bank Fortis and Spain’s Santander, the pressure is high to repeat the success it had when it bought larger rival NatWest seven years ago.
“The one lesson you would take away from NatWest is that the people we are acquiring make the biggest difference,” said RBS Chief Executive Fred Goodwin as the six-month battle for ABN came to an end.