‘We had to make twelve people redundant in our bank’s Sverdlovsk Region branch. These were mainly additional office workers employed in the mortgage lending departments,’ the spokesperson for VTB24 said to an UrBC reporter.

According to the bank’s official statement, the Group’s staff was reduced by 1.3% (or 565 people) in the first quarter of 2009, so they currently employ 41,427 workers. VTB24, a retail bank and the Group’s largest employer, cut its personnel by 2.2 % (or 394 people), so there are now 17,487 employees there.

‘VTB24 hasn’t closed down any of its regional offices this year. Last year, however, three offices had to be closed due to retail business migration,’ the spokesperson noted.