SAN FRANCISCO, September 14, (THEWILL) – Unity Bank Plc has allegedly reduced its workforce by disengaging 215 members of staff in a bid to enable the bank realign its operation and pursue its long term growth strategy.
The affected members of staff were those that achieved less than 40 per cent of their performance target, which affected the bank’s overall profitability in recent years.
Some of them were said to have opted to resign and management approved severance package for them in line with the bank’s policy while the action cut across all cadres of the bank including junior, middle and top management positions.
THEWILL gathered that the bank recently engaged some specialists and hired about 200 new staff to drive the transformation initiative while about 100 other staff were said to have been promoted.
The bank also relocated its head office from Abuja to Lagos, in line with its plan to grow market share in viable clusters of the retail market as it forged a strategic alliance with Black Trituium, an equity and investment fund manager, last May.
The alliance is aimed at expanding the bank’s business scope, strengthen its capital base and support the bank’s retail strategy while meeting the investment objectives of Black Trituium.
The collaboration with the bank is also expected to expand the retail and Small and Medium Enterprises segment of the bank.
Unity Bank commenced operations in January 2006 following the merger of nine financial institutions with competences in investment, corporate and retail banking.
Story by David Oputah
