With plans in place to close up to half of its branches in a switch to digital banking, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria has said the closure of branches would not prompt downsizing the staff base of the bank this year.
Report by international newswire, Bloomberg, last week had revealed that the plans are already underway by the bank to close 13 of its 25 physical branches in Nigeria in a move to focus more on its digital banking business.
In a statement that was issued at the weekend, the bank claim that the reduction in branches was an exercise it embarked few years back in a bid to tilt more towards digitisation and the rising demands of their customer base.
In the statement that was signed by it head, corporate affairs, Ms Dayo Aderugbo, said, “the branch closures are part of the digitisation journey we embarked a few years ago towards optimizing our processes, operating channels, products and service solutions to suit the demands of our clients.
“Our digital banking proposition is designed to enhance the experience of our customers who are progressively exploring and demanding simpler, faster, efficient, and more convenient ways of banking at the touch of a button from the convenience of the mobile devices.”
It added that, the closures are also driven in response to changes in customer transaction behaviour. “We have also witnessed a significant adoption of our digital banking services by customers as most of them continue to prioritize convenient banking over the need to visit any of our physical locations to access our products and services,” he pointed out.
On the impact the cutback on branch network would have on staffs, it said: “the bank prides itself in a forward-looking People Strategy where we proactively plan our workforce needs to fulfil our Business Strategy.
retrain and redeploy staff who are impacted by the closure of the Branches in Lagos and Abuja. This closure will not impact any staff in 2022.”
