HUNDREDS of jobs in the region were in the balance last night as banking group Abbey dealt a fresh blow to staff by warning it planned to cut 1,000 more jobs than originally forecast.

Spain's Banco Santander, which recently acquired the bank, said it would remove 4,000 Abbey positions this year rather than the 3,000 expected at the time of its £9.5bn takeover.

Abbey announced in March it was closing its contact centre in Gateshead, making 235 people redundant.

The fate of its call centre in Thornaby, near Stockton, still remains unclear.

An Abbey spokeswoman said it was too early to say exactly where jobs would be cut, but she said the company was negotiating with unions Amicus and the Abbey National Group Union.

About 2,400 posts have so far been identified, with Abbey adding that 1,000 of those jobs had already gone following the change of ownership in November.

Abbey, which employs 25,000 people in the UK, said the additional cuts would be around the country and chiefly among staff in back office operations.

A spokeswoman said Abbey needed to reduce overheads as its cost-to-income ratio of 62 per cent was far higher than the 40 per cent ratio achieved by high street rivals.

Details of the accelerated job-cutting programme emerged as Abbey announced trading figures for the first three months of the year.

It said it had made a positive start to 2005 with revenues stabilising and trading costs £20m lower than the same period a year earlier.

Abbey's owner is looking to revive the business after a period of heavy losses, including a deficit of £984m in 2002.