Brazilian banking group Itau Unibanco has fired at least 270 employees this month to cut costs as loan losses surged amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Reuters reported.

This announcement came from the national bank employees union Contraf head Juvandia Moreira.

The move reportedly affected 130 positions at the bank’s car loan unit. It also impacted employees at the bank branches, the report added.

As of June 2020, Itau had nearly 95,000 employees. The bank had earlier promised not to cut any jobs during the pandemic.

Moreira said: “Banks had committed not to fire workers during the pandemic and now are breaking their promise.”

The bank now told Reuters that it has begun both hirings and redundancies, since the beginning of this month.

Itau did not divulge any numbers related to the layoffs or the hirings.

Moreover, last month, Itau CFO Milton Maluhy said that the lender is planning to trim its branch network to reduce its operating costs for this year and the next.

The bank is also planning to return some rented buildings, Maluhy noted.

Since June 2020, Banco Santander Brasil also axed around 1,000 positions, stated the union.

Recent job cuts

Recently, Swedish consumer bank Handelsbanken decided to slash nearly 1,000 jobs and permanently close around 200 out of 380 branches in the country to save costs.

Last week, Ulster Bank decided to lay off 266 employees to cut costs as the Covid-19 pandemic affected its income.

Lloyds Bank decided to make 865 roles redundant to slash costs, as surge in bad loans amid the pandemic affected its income.

Last month, Co-op Bank decided to slash 350 jobs and shutter 18 branches. Wells Fargo also resumed layoffs that were put on hold due to the pandemic.

NatWest decided to slash nearly 500 retail banking jobs to cut costs in the wake of the pandemic.

British lender TSB decided to phase out cashier roles by next year, which could put hundreds of jobs at risk.