Banco do Brasil SA said it expects personnel expenses to fall by 2.3 billion Brazilian reais in 2017 as a result of 9,409 employees taking part in the bank's early retirement program, which closed Dec. 9.

The bank will also book an estimated 1.4 billion reais in non-recurring costs for incentive payments under the program in 2016, it said in a Dec. 12 filing.

Banco do Brasil announced the early retirement program in November alongside other cost-cutting measures, including the closure of 402 branches and the downsizing of another 379 branches. The retirement program targeted as much as 18,000 employees.

Without those measures, the bank would have been forced to seek funds from the government by mid-2017, CEO Paulo Rogério Caffarelli said in a recent interview.

As of Dec. 9, US$1 was equivalent to 3.36 Brazilian reais.