OREANDA-NEWS. February 16, 2015. French bank Societe Generale plans to cut 1,500 jobs at its Russian subsidiary Rosbank, a company spokesperson told AFP on Friday.

The Russian unit, impacted by the worsening economic situation in the country, already cut 1,500 jobs in 2014 as a part of a plan to improve profitability.

"An effort of the same magnitude is planned this year," the Societe Generale spokesperson said.

The planned job cuts for 2015 was earlier reported by Bloomberg News.

Rosbank had 20,500 employees at the end of 2014 and operates mainly in retail banking, mortgage lending, and consumer credit.

While presenting its annual results Thursday, Societe Generale said it anticipated a loss for its Russian operations in 2015 related to an expected increase in the cost of risk, after adopting provisions to account for the increased risk of default.

In 2014, the same activities had already finished in the red with a loss of 538 million euros largely due to a depreciation of 525 million euros in the first quarter.

Russia's economy has been hit hard by tumbling oil prices and Western sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine.

This has in turn affected foreign companies operating in the country.

For 2015, Societe General forecasts a four percent decline in Russia's gross domestic product with an inflation of 14 percent.