The three big Dutch banks have announced a total of 40,000 job cuts since 2011, according to calculations by the Financieele Dagblad.

ING said on Monday it is cutting its workforce by an additional 7,000 jobs, most of which will go in Belgium – where unions have called for a strike – and in the Netherlands. The new round of job cuts take the total announced by ING to 16,000 over the past five years.

Last month, ABN Amro announced up to a further 1,375 jobs will go in a new reorganisation, taking its total to 5,000 over five years. Rabobank said at the end of last year it is cutting 9,000 jobs, adding to the 10,000 job losses announced in the years since 2011.

The job losses cut across the entire bank organisations and impact on both domestic and foreign operations.

In Belgium there has been a furious reaction to ING’s decision to slash the local workforce by 40%. Prime minister Premier Charles Michel met unions on Monday afternoon to discuss the situation and called on ING to meet its responsibilities.

Former prime minister Elio Di Rupo called for sanctions against ING, pointing out that the Belgian operation hs paid €7.2bn in dividends to its Dutch parent over the past 10 years.