German financial giant Hypo Real Estate said Saturday it planned to halve its workforce by 2013 as part of cost-cutting measures, CNN reported.
The Munich-based banking group, which received euros 50 billion ($70 billion) in emergency funding from the German government in October, said an extensive restructuring of its businesses was a prerequisite of the bailout deal and to qualify for further support from Germany's state-backed financial markets stabilization fund.
"Given the changes to the capital market environment -- as a consequence of the financial markets crisis -- and the real estate downturn, there is no alternative to the extensive planned adjustments to the business model," CEO Axel Wieandt said in a statement.
"The focus is now on discipline in managing the balance sheet, as well as costs and risks, and on consistently implementing the restructuring measures."
Hypo Real Estate, which specializes in investment banking and real estate, said it planned to cut annual costs by euros 200 million by 2011 and euros 250 million by 2013.
Around 800 of Hypo Real Estate's 1,800-strong workforce are expected to lose their jobs by 2011, the group said. A further 200 redundancies are anticipated in 2013. Two-thirds of job cuts were expected to be outside Germany.
In a separate announcement Saturday, Hypo Real Estate said it was terminating the contracts of Chief Financial Officer Markus Fell and Frank Lamby, who headed the company's real estate businesses.