Denmark's Danske Bank will slash up to 16,000 jobs within the next 6 to 12 months as part of a cost-reduction program that will extend until 2023, according to a Reuters report.

At least 1,000 employees have already left the bank since June 2019.

"We need to adapt to the structural changes that the financial sector is experiencing, and to remain competitive in a low-margin and highly competitive market, we simply have to reduce our costs," Chris Vogelzang, Danske CEO, said in a statement.

Some of the cuts, which will affect most departments across Denmark, will be achieved through voluntary redundancy agreements and natural attrition, a Danske spokesman told Reuters.

Danske employs more than 22,000, with 11,000 in Denmark.

"Together with the existing hiring freeze, we hope that it can help reduce the number of actual layoffs at a later time," Karsten Breum, Danske Bank head of HR, said in a statement.

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