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Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - The BW-Bank is using the red pencil and wants to permanently close 41 branches.

Of the current 100 branches, 59 are to remain by the end of 2022, as Andreas Götz, LBBW's general representative for private customer business, announced on Monday in Stuttgart.

A large number of customers made use of the service and advisory services without any problems, even without a stationary branch.

The number of branch visits is falling.

One of the main reasons is going to the ATM.

More and more conversations are being held by telephone, chat or video conference.

With the renovation, BW-Bank is also reacting to increasing cost pressure. The private customer sales department currently has 1,000 employees, said Götz. After the renovation, it should still have 900 employees. BW-Bank is a subsidiary of the largest German Landesbank. A few weeks ago, LBBW announced that administrative expenses should fall by 100 million euros compared to 2019 by 2024 - and 700 jobs will be cut for this. Talks are currently underway with the staff council, said CEO Rainer Neske. The dismantling should take place in a socially acceptable manner.

Verdi union secretary Christian Miska said the news of branch closings was not a complete surprise, but the dimension clearly exceeds fears.

“A sure instinct when it comes to personnel issues should therefore now be the top priority.

We therefore now expect the bank to clearly rule out redundancies for operational reasons. "

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Götz said that 70 branches of BW-Bank are currently open.

30 branches are closed due to the corona.

In the future, the bank will only have 59 branches and an additional 100 self-service centers and ATM locations.

"In business terms, we cannot afford to keep branches open permanently if they don't pay off."

At the same time, the bank announced that it wanted to set up online advice.

70 employees from the branches are to move there.

According to Götz, around half of the 600,000 BW Bank private customers actively use online banking.

"Our goal is to provide online advice to over 100,000 digitally savvy customers by the end of next year."

Verdi functionary Miska said that even without the branch closings, the workload in sales would be very high - sometimes too high.

"Right now you should pay special attention to the needs of the employees."

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210426-99-358909 / 2

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