Nationalised Dutch bank ABN Amro will cut around 100 of its 300 plus high street branches in the coming years, chief executive Gerrit Zalm told a television talk show on Tuesday night.

The bank said last week it would cut between 650 and 1,000 jobs because of branch closures but did not say how many would be affected.

Zalm said customers are switching increasingly to online banking, reducing the demand for physical bank branches. ‘But the branches which remain will have to be able to do everything,’ he said.

Zalm also said he hoped ABN Amro, nationalised after its abortive takeover by a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland, would be ready to be privatised by the middle of next year. Estimates of the bank’s value range from €12bn to €20bn, he told the Pauw talk show.