Posted by By Efe Ebelo on
As the December deadline for the N25 billion recapitalisation stipulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) draws near, staff of All States Trust Bank Plc are being forced to swallow the bitter pills of merger talks.
As the December deadline for the N25 billion recapitalisation stipulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) draws near, staff of All States Trust Bank Plc are being forced to swallow the bitter pills of merger talks.
As part of the conditions for the merger talks, management of the bank has cancelled existing staff gratuity scheme.
The bank is presently engaged in merger talks with Hallmark Bank, Lion Bank, and Gulf Bank.
In a memo to all staff of the bank, the management stated that 'as a result of ongoing merger discussions and the need to properly position the bank in the scheme of things, the board has approved a cancellation of the existing staff gratuity scheme".
The management explained that the cancellation is a painful step taken by the board to ensure that the bank gets a fair and proper recognition of her branch spread and asset base under the consolidated bank, adding, 'the board recognises the sacrifice staff are being called upon to make and wishes to assure all that the future will definitely be better". Going by happenings in the banking industry, the more the liability of a bank, the more disadvantaged it is in event of a merger.
With the cancellation, all staff of the bank have lost whatever they had in the scheme, and investigations revealed that some have been on the employ of the bank for about 18 years.
The bank, however, stated that the board has set up a committee to review existing schemes in the industry and recommend a new one for approval, which is expected to place the bank on the very top of the ladder.
But some staff see this step as medicine after death as, according to them, the implication is that when the new bank comes into existence, whatever scheme is recommended and approved would start from the scratch, and besides, only those that survive the merger would be included.
'What then happens to those of us that have spent 10 years and more with All States Trust Bank? It means we will be asked to go home just like that, all the years we spent with the bank wasted, as we would not have anything to show for it.
'We are not allowed to unionise, so most members of staff have taken it as it is, but it is a very sad situation, we hope they will be called to order. Especially for the sake of those who will not survive the merger," said one of the staff.