Volkswagen presents 1,000 hp Golf with Audi engine for hill climb competitions

Porsche reached an agreement with its works council establishing the reduction of more than 5,000 positions by 2035. Added to previous layoffs, this represents about 9,000 vacancies, equivalent to approximately one in five jobs at the automaker, which ended 2024 with 42,600 employees.

Details of the Labor Agreement

This announcement was formalized on Monday (27), after months of negotiations between the company, the IG Metall union, and the employer association Südwestmetall. Porsche clarified that none of the departures will be forced dismissals, as the reduction will occur through natural retirements, demographic effects, expansion of the partial retirement program, and voluntary severance agreements.

In return, Porsche guaranteed the maintenance of jobs and factories until the end of 2035. Furthermore, the company committed an investment of €2.1 billion in the Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen unit, where two-door sports cars are manufactured, and in the Weissach development center.

Compensation and Salary Adjustments

In exchange, employees accepted the postponement of 3.5% of the already negotiated salary increase and future increases until 2035. Senior management will also waive an equivalent contribution in the years 2027 and 2028. The Christmas bonus benefit will be reduced, going from 45% to 5% voluntarily until 2035, decreasing the maximum benefit from up to 100% to 60% of a monthly salary. Additionally, the home office regime will change from 12 days per month to eight.

As immediate compensation, the manufacturer will offer a transformation bonus of €1,500 to each employee in August. IG Metall members will receive an additional €411, totaling €1,911, along with one extra day off annually.

Economic and Strategic Factors

The package of measures comes during a challenging period for the company. Between January and June, Porsche recorded 122,306 deliveries, representing a 16% decrease compared to 2025. Specifically in China, sales fell by 32%, reaching 14,501 units, a number lower than that registered in Germany, which reached 14,938.

The company attributes this global contraction to the discontinuation of the combustion engine 718 model, the strong comparison base of the electric Macan, and the end of tax subsidies for electrified vehicles in the United States. Michael Leiters took over leadership in January with the task of restructuring the business. In the semi-annual balance sheet, released on Wednesday (29), revenue fell to €17.23 billion, although operating income increased by 34%, reaching €1.35 billion, maintaining the annual forecast. Chief Financial Officer Jochen Breckner warned that the new layoff plan will impact several hundred million euros in the second half of the year. Details of the strategy until 2035 will be presented in October, during the company's Capital Markets Day.

Anglo American, a group involved in resources and agricultural nutrients currently undergoing a merger with Teck Resources, has reported stable operational results and costs for the first six months ending June 30. The company also noted favorable copper prices.

Financial Results and Asset Sales

For the reporting period, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization increased by 35%, reaching $4 billion. Company management emphasized that they are working to unlock the full potential of Anglo American, which is based on copper, high-quality iron ore, and fertilizers, aiming to create a global champion in metals and minerals after the completion of the merger with Teck.

As part of the group's strategy, several initiatives were implemented over the past six months, including the sale of its steelmaking coal business for up to $3.875 billion in cash. Furthermore, the sale of the De Beers diamond group is progressing, and integration planning within the merger with Teck is at an advanced stage.

Financial Health and Dividends

Net debt decreased to $8.2 billion from $8.6 billion recorded on December 31, 2025. An interim dividend of $0.23 per share was announced, aligning with a 40% payout policy, significantly higher than the $0.07 per share on June 30, 2025.

Duncan Wanblad stated that the company has made significant progress in optimizing its portfolio, agreeing to the sale of Dhilmar's steelmaking coal business, including an initial cash payment of $2.3 billion and potential additional payments linked to future coal prices. Work continues regarding the European Commission's antitrust approval process for the sale of its nickel business.

Merger Outlook and Operational Efficiency

Wanblad noted that the positive interim results are attributable to operational excellence, inflationary pressures, and the realization of benefits from the cost reduction program launched in 2025, as well as management actions to curb losses in De Beers. In the copper segment, which forms the basis of the future portfolio, operational performance combined with favorable prices yielded gross EBITDA of $2.9 billion with a 60% margin.

He added that these results strengthen the company's position in the formation of Anglo Teck—a global leader in metals and minerals. The deal completion process is planned within the initial window from September 2026 to March 2027, with the final regulatory step being obtaining anti-monopoly approval from China. Integration planning is advanced, allowing for the realization of identified synergies and value post-deal closure.

"Business Development Bank" ATB held a briefing on the topic "A New Page of Digital Transformation – Implementation of Artificial Intelligence." During the event, Ziyovuddin Orifkhojaev, Chief Data Officer of the Information Technology Department, provided a detailed account of the bank's large-scale digital transformation and the process of integrating artificial intelligence into it.

Innovative Bank Projects

To provide clients with fast, convenient, and modern services, as well as full process automation, "Business Development Bank" is developing over 20 AI-based projects using its own resources. Five of these projects have already been successfully implemented in practice.

AI Assistant for Business Plans

The first project is the "AI Assistant for Generating Business Plans." A carefully prepared business plan is required when lending to legal entities. Now, this complex and time-consuming task is entrusted to artificial intelligence. An entrepreneur only needs to enter the necessary data about their project and financial indicators into the system, and the rest of the work is performed by the intelligent system.

Since the launch of the "AI Assistant for Generating Business Plans," positive results have been achieved: the business plan preparation process, which previously took 2–3 days, now takes only 5 minutes. To date, credit funds totaling 2.4 billion sums have been allocated through this system to 30 legal entities. The time spent on initial credit verification has been reduced by 70 percent. Furthermore, entrepreneurs who do not possess special financial literacy have gained the opportunity to use this service completely free of charge.

This project was presented at a meeting chaired by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan on "The Development of Artificial Intelligence Technologies in Regions and Networks" on October 21, 2025, and received high praise. Following the meeting, the task was set to implement this project not only in the bank but also in all commercial banks in the capital within one year.

Currently, joint work is underway in this area with the Ministry of Digital Technologies and the Tashkent city mayor's office.

Virtual Assistant and Chatbot

The second project is the "Avatar Virtual Assistant." To raise the quality of customer service to a new level, an avatar virtual assistant has been launched in the bank's branches. Operating on modern speech-to-text and text-to-speech technologies, this assistant conducts live dialogues with clients, answers questions in real-time, provides detailed information about the bank's services, and can even facilitate payments.

The system is currently being improved with new features such as loan repayment and bill payments. Targeted work is also being carried out to enable the virtual assistant to provide round-the-clock service in ATM branches across the country. The avatar virtual assistant, designed in a modern style consistent with the bank's image, began operating at the Bank Services office in Tashkent on June 1, 2026, and quickly passed a test verification of 45 banking operations totaling 1.2 million sums.

BRB-GPT and Other Technologies

The third project is the artificial intelligence chatbot "BRB-GPT." This chatbot is fully launched and operates 24/7, providing customers with automated information about the bank's products. This intelligent assistant advises individuals and legal entities on all products and services offered by the bank—loans, deposits, cash payments, currency exchange rates, and bank office addresses.

The feature of the chatbot is that it remembers the previous part of the conversation and responds based on context. If a question is unclear, it asks a clarifying question, mimicking human interaction. This system has solved several current problems: the chatbot independently answers a large number of repetitive standard requests coming into the call center, significantly reducing the load; clients can now receive fast and reliable information constantly via the website, Telegram, and mobile application, even outside working hours; a single, centralized, and reliable information base for all products and services has been created, as previously the information was scattered across different sources.

The chatbot seamlessly accepts text and voice inquiries in Uzbek, Russian, and English. Currently, the chatbot has successfully answered 91,698 questions from 20,427 users.

Automation and Analytics

In addition, other AI projects are being gradually introduced in the bank. For example, a number of internal business processes are being automated using RPA (Robotic Process Automation) technologies. Robots perform repetitive operations, reducing the influence of human error, while the speed of service and operational efficiency noticeably increase.

Voice services based on TTS-STT technologies are also being introduced. This solution ensures more convenient and faster use of banking services by converting client voice requests into text and system responses into natural voice.

Another important direction is the "Video Analytics" project, which analyzes customer service processes in bank branches using artificial intelligence. This system helps allocate staff and improve service efficiency by assessing service quality, customer flow, and queues.

Strategic Goals of the Bank

Thus, the presented figures and innovative projects are not just technical reports. They represent one of the boldest and most strategic steps taken by "Business Development Bank" ATB towards future financial technologies. The bank is stepping into a new era by sharply reducing manual labor, robotizing processes, enriching the system with elements of artificial intelligence, and ensuring absolute control over data security. The goal is to transform the bank into a digital financial institution capable of making the most accurate decisions based on data and fully complying with regulatory requirements under any circumstances.

Since correct information delivered on time leads to the right decision, which is an important factor in ensuring the growth of the bank's revenue.