ING will sack up to 280 employees next year in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, after transferring some activities in Romania, according to Reuters. The number of the staff to go represents 30-40% of the total ING employees in the two countries.

The banking group will transfer some of their IT, financial and operational activities to Romania, reducing their staff in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, where it currently employs 700 people.

ING will open a regional centre in Cluj-Napoca (Central-West Romania). The decision follows ING's announcement on Friday according to which the group will open in 2010 in Cluj-Napoca a regional centre for services for East-European countries, namely for the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Romania. The new location will centralise several financial, IT and operation roles. The marketing and sales will still function on a local level, in each country in the region.

The transfer will begin in the last 2010 quarter. The reason for it is an attempt to reduce costs of a life insurance policy and "the desire to benefit from the advantages offered by regional expertise", the company's report shows. The ING group has been present on the Romania market with businesses in the banking sector, insurance, private pensions, leasing and factoring.