Outsourcing: ABN Amro sheds 1,500 workers

Dutch bank ABN Amro is to shed 1,500 workers as part of a $2.2 billion outsourcing deal with IBM Corp. plus four other technology companies.

About 550 of the jobs will be from the Netherlands, the rest from ABN Amro facilities in Chicago and Sao Paolo, Brazil.

The five-year outsourcing deal is one of the biggest in Europe in recent times. The bank estimates it will generate annual savings of $315 million.