National Bank Financial has let go of 20 people in another round of restructuring.

Similar cuts were made in both 2010 and 2008. Last year the bank put aside $15-million to cover the severance costs, and this year another $5-million expense has been recorded in the fourth quarter.

The latest round of cuts come in the same year that NBF closed its acquisition of Wellington West, which added about 20 bankers to NBF’s roster. That combination resulted in a $10-million severance charge to account for laying off the bankers who didn't get brought over.

Some sources at National say the new round came after the Wellington bankers proved themselves to be more productive than expected, which made some of NBF's legacy staff redundant. Others say many of the Wellington team members were protected from the new round of layoffs because they got guarantees in the merger.

Last year, NBF cut 35 people as part of a restructuring to focus on smaller cap names. The expense for that reorganization was costly because the layoffs included big name analysts who covered areas like large cap mining and telecommunications that NBF has now deemed to be non-core.