No fewer than 3,000 employees of merged banks have been sent back into the labour market in the last one month.
In spite of that, there are strong
indications in the sector that more banks plan to lay off some of their
workers under the guise of saving overhead and operations costs.
In January, at least 1,500 workers of former Intercontinental Bank were fired by the management of Access Bank.
Access Bank will succeed the rescued bank from March when the merger is completed.
Ecobank Nigeria Plc also sacked over 1,000 members of staff of former Oceanic Bank Plc for similar reasons.
Ecobank took over Oceanic Bank in a merger.
One of the nationalised banks,
Enterprise Bank (former Spring Bank) also eased off 140 members of
staff, who it said fell short of the employer’s target.
According to information we hear, Skye
Bank, Afribank, Union Bank Plc were also planning to trim their
workforce, a move that even the Central Bank of Nigeria may not stop.
Since the resurgence of the wave of sacking in the sector early this year, industry watchers have been appraising its effects.
Some cautioned the banks to tread
carefully in their bid to save operations and overhead costs so as not
to further saturate the unemployed market.
But others argued that corporate
downsizing remained the biggest fallout of the period and a legitimate
option for business growth strategies.
The Registrar of Institute of Credit Administration, Dr. Chris Onalo, said the problem should be traced to the roots.
He said there was a dire need for the
management of banks to be more transparent and less involved in
influencing credit appraisal processes.
He said they should rather exercise
absolute caution in approving the loan request, which in turn, may
qualify their accounts for future debt purchasing or factoring by
asset/receivable management organisations.
While he said it was unfortunate that
hapless bank workers were the worse for the fallout of poor credit
administration by bank chiefs, he made a case for credit analysis.
Onalo said, “A credit analysis is a
process that bankers use to determine whether a borrowing applicant
should be permitted to borrow money, either in the form of a loan or the
generation of debt.”
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Down-sizing to me is not the best option. Why not reduce salaries of all bank staff instead of sacking some and leaving others. It can be very disastrous when a banker looses his/her job because most of these people actually left their various professions upon taking up the bank offer in the first place so it's going to be difficult for them to fit back into the labour market.I worked briefly in the banking sector in Nigeria before leaving the country so I know how destructive these actions can be.Banking is a specialized field and the skills acquired may not be relevant in other industries. Overhead and Operational costs can still be effectively reduced by other means and not necessarily by sacking people.
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