A slowdown in revenue and the deterioration in Standard Bank’s cost-to-income ratio led to the bank retrenching more than 1 500 senior staff members.
“This is perhaps the most difficult thing this management team has had to do in the last 10 years,” Standard Bank South Africa chief executive Sim Tshabalala told a press conference in Johannesburg on Friday.
“This is about taking strong short-term action in order to look after the sustainability of this group of companies in the long term,” he said.
Standard Bank group chief executive Jacko Maree detailed the factors contributing to the current situation.
This included the global economic meltdown, the tough environment for the banking sector in South Africa, and the highly competitive environment in South African banking.
Maree said no further retrenchments such as these were in the works.
“We plan no further general retrenchments like this programme has been.
“This was an unprecedented act.”
Neither Tshabalala nor Maree could provide the number in rand terms that the company would save through the retrenchments.
Other cost-cutting measures were also on the cards, including delaying and downsizing IT projects in particular, a more selective roll-out of branches and ATMS elsewhere on the continent, and cancelling conferences and year-end functions. — Sapa