French digital payments company Worldline has announced plans to cut around eight per cent of its global workforce in an attempt to realise €200 million in annual savings.

The cost reduction plan dubbed ‘Power24’ was initially announced in October, and translates to about 1,400 jobs.

In a statement, Worldline said: "Worldline confirms that it has initiated social processes with the relevant employee representative bodies within the Worldline group."

It explained that “As a leader, Worldline needs to constantly adapt to industry and environment trends. The payment industry moves extremely rapidly with fast-paced technological innovation in the product space coupled with a macro-environment slowdown that led to rapid changes in consumers’ behaviours across Europe.

“This context has resulted in a slow-down in spending volumes and a reallocation of spending towards products and services generating lower margins for Worldline.”

Worldline in October significantly cut its sales outlook, causing its stock to dive by 57 per cent and lose nearly $4 billion in market value. This led to a wider sell-off in the payments sector which has struggled to content with reduced consumer spending.

The stock bounced back slightly the following month on reports of private equity interest in the company.

Worldline last month received a boost when French bank Credit Agricole bought a seven per cent stake in the company.

According to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas (GCC), January saw the financial sector cut the most jobs in more than five years. Companies made 23,238 layoffs during the month, the report said.

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