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The bank said on Wednesday that it had already informed the bank's two in-house trade unions and the Employment Service about the decision taken on Tuesday.

The second phase of reorganisation, launched in 2014, focuses on streamlining the bank's network of offices around the country.

NLB's network of offices is much broader than that of its competitors, while an increasing number of clients use online banking, the bank said in a press release.

NLB plans to reduce the number of employees by 20% by the beginning of 2015 over late 2012, when it employed 3,572 people.