Indications have emerged that many bank workers may lose their jobs in the following weeks due to the harsh environment been faced in the banking industry. President Muhammadu Buhari’s order for the implementation of a Treasury Single Account (TSA) with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directive on zero Commission on Turnover (CoT) have been fingered as a likely cause of these layoffs with experts predicting that the nation will witness the ripple effects of the policies before the end of this month.
Hence, as commercial banks in the country are bracing up for the effect of the full implementation of the zero CoT which took off this January, this is making banks nursing the fear that its implementation may further shrink their lean profits.
Around N100 billion, Newswatch Times gathered, has been lost in revenue following the directive by the CBN for the phasing out of CoT and the implementation of the TSA.
An online publication yesterday reported that a prominent second generation bank has served some of its employees’ notice of termination of their appointments and services.
According to the report: “We are unable to ascertain the actual figure of those affected, with initial report claiming no fewer than 1,200 were involved from all the bank’s branches, while a source close to the bank said that about 240 people, including eight general managers and 40 assistant general managers, were affected.”
With the latest development, the bank joins the growing list of others in the financial sector of the economy to embark on the restructuring of staff as a strategy to repositioning for growth.
The anxiety was further heightened at the weekend, following the projection by Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited (FDC), Mr. Bismarck Rewane, that banks may commence massive staff retrenchment in the second quarter of 2016 due to the tough economic situation.
Rewane, who made this forecast in his firm’s projection for 2016, also stated that state governments would retrench a significant number of workers in the first quarter of this year.
Bank workers, who spoke in Lagos, confirmed that rumours were rife about impending mass layoffs and that employees, were quietly bracing themselves for it.
An official of a small sized bank, who asked not to be named, said: “At the moment, everyone is scared because we do not know who will be affected when the exercise is carried out.
“But it has become quite obvious that some people would be asked to go. Usually, the retrenchment takes place early in the year, either in January or February.”
When contacted, the President of the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), Mr. Sunday Salako, said the association did not have any information yet on the planned layoffs.
He, however, acknowledged that he had heard of the speculated retrenchment, adding that ASSBIFI was on the alert for any development.
“We don’t have any information on the plan to lay off staff, but our people are on ground and we are monitoring things. You know layoffs are not something that can be done in secret. Even if you try to do it in secret, something will happen and it will be escalated.
“We don’t want to play up the issue yet so as not to give any bank management the idea that staff retrenchment is a way out of their current difficulties. They should not think of cutting jobs now because the staff contributed to banks’ growth when things were good,” Salako said.
Newswatch Times
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