StanChart shuts 2 branches; dismisses claim of staff layoffs
Standard Chartered Bank Ghana has denied reports of preparing to lay-off over 600 workers in June 2019.
The Bank has also refuted media reports suggesting they are closing three branches which is the reason for the workers being sent home.
In an interview with JoyBusiness the Head, Retail Banking, Ghana and West Africa Henry Baye, said the total number of retail staff of the bank falls far below the 600 staff that is being speculated.
“It’s surprising to know that a branch building of a bank can contain 300 people, this is just not possible. The whole of the retail banking in Ghana put together, the staff is not up to 600 so the maths does not add up.”
Mr Baye added, “Anytime we are to close a branch, we do that with a clear principle to redeploy or resign these staff from the branches we are to close.
And in this situation, we are doing the same. As a bank, we are committed to ensuring staff are comfortable and their wellbeing is taken care off. It is, therefore, wrong for anyone to link the closure of a branch to staff going home.”
There has been speculation that over 600 workers of Standard Chartered Bank in Ghana are set to lose their jobs in June as the bank closes three branches located at Tudu, Westlands and Taifa in Accra.
Media sources are alleged that staff have now been informed of the decision after it was kept from them for a long while.
The story further revealed that the branches are being closed because management has introduced a new technology that is capable of doing their jobs in the respective branches while conversations were underway to duly compensate the affected staff.
But Mr Baye who rejected these claims said, “right now there are only two branches that we are in the process of closing and we have sent notices to our clients and that is no secret. And these branches are Westlands and Tudu and let me quickly make this very clear that we don’t have any branch at Taifa at all.”
He added, “Even though most of the business of the bank is becoming digital we also keep training the staff on current developments in other for them to become relevant in the organisation.”
Digital Bank on mobile
Standard Chartered Bank on Friday, February 22, 2019, announced the official launch of a full Digital Bank on mobile – Standard Chartered Mobile (SC Mobile) fulfilling the Bank’s determination to provide the best digital lifestyle for our clients.
This has been designed with continuous feedback from clients, incorporating innovative technology to allow clients to execute all banking activities from a mobile device.
The Bank’s digital services are available by downloading the SC Mobile App. New clients can open a bank account and provide all verification documents by uploading to the application and completing the onboarding process within minutes. The process comes with free debit cards which entitles clients to the Bank’s 360 rewards loyalty programme. The debit cards will be delivered to the client via Ghana Post making it a completely digital onboarding process without clients interfacing with a branch.
The new solution comes with an increased number of billers and is mobile money enabled. Clients can execute all their banking transactions right from their mobile device. Additionally, the Bank has digitised 70 client services from being branch-led to the mobile platform.
Source: Myjoyonline