Jobs to go at Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks

The owner of Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks has said it will cut 1,400 jobs there by 2015.

National Australia Bank (NAB) has blamed a "significant downgrade in the growth prospects of the UK economy" following a review of its business.

Although they operate under two different names, Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks were merged by NAB in 2001.

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The Australian bank said its UK operations lost £25m between July and December 2011, compared with a £77m profit the previous year.

It put this down to an increased number of commercial property loans going bad and higher funding costs after Clydesdale's credit rating was downgraded last September.

The cuts will take NAB's UK workforce down to 8,300.

They will come through the merging and closure of a number of Financial Solution Centres, which offer services to businesses and wealthy individual investors.

NAB will also close six back office locations, it said.