Standard Chartered Speaks On Closure Of Nigerian Branches

Standard Chartered Bank has spoken on the closure of 50 percent of its Nigerian branches.

On Tuesday, Prime Business reported that the United Kingdom-based banking group would cut branches in Nigeria and focus more on digital banking.

Dayo Aderugbo, head, corporate affairs, brand and marketing, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited, in a statement on Wednesday, confirmed the report, assuring employees that there would be no job losses.

The statement read: “We have continued to 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.” 

The bank explained that the branch closures were part of the digitisation journey to optimise processes, operating channels, products and service solutions to suit the demands of clients.

According to Aderugbo, “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.

“The closures are also driven in response to changes in customer transaction behaviour. We have also witnessed significant adoption of our digital banking services by customers as most of them continue to prioritise convenient banking over the need to visit any of our physical locations to access our products and services.

“The bank prides itself in a forward-looking people strategy where we proactively plan our workforce needs to fulfil our business strategy.”