The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Financial Services Financial And Insurance Activities Financial Service Activities, Except Insurance And Pension Funding 64.19 - Other monetary intermediation
110 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
8 September 2016
Employment effect (start)
23 November 2016
Foreseen end date
Description
Hypo Alpe Adria bank is to dismiss 110 employees at its headquarters in Tavagnacco (28) and across its branches in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto and Lombardy (82).
The bank, as well as the whole Hypo Group, has been facing difficulties due to mismanagement and deterioration of its credits in the outburst of the financial crisis. In 2009, the Austrian government nationalised the bank and implemented a plan to rescue it from failureby injecting capital. The 2012-2014 industrial plan also envisaged significant head count reductions (see Hypo Alpe AdriaIT-2012). However the European Commission opened a state aid procedure on the case and eventually ruled on 3 September 2013 a gradual wind-down of the company, which is currently being implemented.
As part of this process, the management of the parent company, HBI-Bundesholding AG, which is owned by the Austrian government, announced in April 2016 the intention to sell Hypo Alpe Adria activities to individual investors and to dismiss a share of workers.
Unions and local institutions opposed the decision and called on the management to consider offers from a single investor which would save most jobs. In spite of this, the management reiterated their intention, deeming the transfer of all activities to a single investor in breach of the wind-down process already ruled by the European Commission.
For this reason, a representative of the European Commission was invited to attend the negotiations and reassure the parties about the viability of the proposal of unions and local institutions. On 8 September 2016, the company announced that it sold seven of its 26 branches to local bank Banca Valsabbina and formally opened a collective dismissal procedure for 110 employees.
Workers, unions and local institutions protested vehemently, calling on the Austrian government to adopt a cooperative behaviour. Unions also remarked that most of the affected workers are too young to avail of any early retirement scheme, which is often used to reduce the negative social impact of the dismissals.
Negotiations will continue over the next two months.
Sources
5 April 2016: Ansa
17 May 2016: Il Mattino di Padova
9 September 2016: Askanews
13 September 2016: Il Sole 24 Ore
Citation
Eurofound (2016), Hypo Alpe Adria, Internal restructuring in Italy, factsheet number 88603, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/88603.
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