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African Bank Begin Discussing Retrenching Staff

Times are tough and everyone is feeling it including the various large banks. African Bank have announced that they are now beginning consultation with the banking sector union (SASBO) in regard to  staff retrenchments.

‘African Bank has around 3700 employees’

At present, African Bank has around 3700 employees. They say that they feel it is likely that they will have to retrench around 317 people in the near future.

The retrenchments are directly linked to not being able to collect on funds already given to consumers and also not being able to find consumers who qualify for or want more credit. The bank is reporting a 25% reduction in debt collections this year.

‘it is likely that they will have to retrench around 317 people in the near future’

At the same time, banks are increasingly looking to make use of software and digital solutions to reduce overheads and speed customer service.

In the debt review space, this relates to software programs like DCRS which helps speed and simplify the debt proposal and response process for all the banks. The system is designed to calculate concessions for consumers and offer acceptance of resulting proposals without too much human interaction.

‘The bank is reporting a 25% reduction in debt collections this year’

 

African bank not too long ago said they were taking on 29 new data analysts who were employed specifically to accelerate their digital banking offerings. This is a space where competition is high in the banking world (especially in South Africa where new digital only brands have recently entered the market).

African Bank says they are trying to reduce overheads across the entire brand so as to minimise the need for retrenchments.