It has emerged that Ecobank is among the three banks facing liquidity crisis and was last year ordered by the Central Bank of Nigeria to recapitalise or be shut down.
In November 2015, the CBN gave three commercial banks ultimatum to recapitalise by June 2016 after they failed to hit a minimum capital adequacy rate of 10 percent .
The apex bank concealed the troubled banks’ names but hinted that they are three of the group of 14 deposited money banks that have licenses to operate as regional and national lenders, with respective capital bases of N10b and N25b.
The latest development is that Ecobank’s management is assuring investors and depositors that they can weather the liquidity crisis by downsizing, and reducing the bank’s operating cost.
About two thousands staff of the bank were recently sacked in the bank’s bid to stay afloat. Earlier, forty top managers of the bank were disengaged.
Austen Osokor of the Corporate Communications Department of the bank did not answer his phone nor respond to text message asking him the bank’s position on the order CBN gave the bank, and the gale of sack.
But in statement released by the bank, and made available to OrijoReporter, announced the conversion of over 200 outsourced personnel to permanent employees of the bank.
The statement reads in full:
Ecobank Nigeria Limited has announced the conversion of over 200 outsourced personnel to permanent employees of the bank, as part of the bank’s drive to attract and reward talent while also repositioning for improved efficiency. In line with its recognition of excellence, the bank also recently implemented a merit pay increase for the top performers across all cadres.
Making the announcement in Lagos, the Managing Director of the bank, Charles Kie said converting qualified outsourced staff to permanent staff is in line with the Bank’s commitment to develop and grow talent by nurturing its people along their career paths and giving them access to higher responsibilities. He said the bank is resolute that recognizing and rewarding excellence will drive the Bank’s goal of achieving exceptional performance in the industry.
According to Mr Kie, the bank in its renewed drive for optimal performance has, in addition realigned certain roles bank wide to ensure improved efficiency. This he said necessitated the exits of some staff who were adequately compensated. He maintained that this is in furtherance of a market repositioning exercise designed to strengthen the bank’s business across all markets where it operates. He emphasized that the Ecobank Group is on a trajectory to achieve leadership and Ecobank Nigeria remains one of ETI’s major affiliates as well as one of Nigeria’s Systemically Important financial institutions.
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Mr. Kie explained that “our focus is to improve the quality of service to our customers as well as our operational efficiency. “We understand that people are our key asset, so we have emphasized the need to reward our best performers, continue to re-invigorate our people while also opening up new opportunities for talented, committed people to join us as permanent employees. At the same time, based on our repositioning plan, we had to disengage some staff while ensuring that, in line with industry standards, they are treated fairly”.
He maintained that Ecobank is an institution where high professional culture, exceptional performance, innovativeness and professionalism are recognized , nurtured and rewarded.
Ecobank Nigeria is a member of the Ecobank Group present in 36 African countries. The Group employs nearly 19,000 people from 40 different countries in over 1,200 branches and offices.
Ecobank is a full-service bank providing wholesale, retail, investment and transaction banking services and products to governments, financial institutions, multinationals, international organizations, medium, small and micro businesses and individuals.