South Africa’s financial intuitions are preparing for a major banking strike on Friday (27 September).<\/p>\n
Instituted by Sasbo – the country’s largest financial union – employees will be protesting over planned retrenchments in the banking sector, and calling for a moratorium on job losses.<\/p>\n
Many local banks have closed a number of their branches as a result of digitalisation, which encourages self-service, with clients using their mobile phones and computers, rather than walking into a branch.<\/p>\n
Absa, Standard Bank, and Nedbank Group have all consulted with staff about cuts in recent months.<\/p>\n
Absa is restructuring operations across its business units, Standard Bank is closing 91 branches, while Nedbank is in talks with about 1,500 employees over job cuts or redeployments,<\/p>\n
However, in an emailed statement Capitec said that it has no plans to retrench employees and is currently in a growth phase.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019re fortunate to be growing, continuously hiring new employees and not retrenching. Over the past year, our staff complement has grown by over 200 people,” it said.<\/p>\n
“We also plan to open a further 17 branches in the next 6 months. Our implementation of technology in the business has not posed a threat to jobs, instead it has helped us improve processes, freeing up our staff to help clients bank better.”<\/p>\n
The bank said it will provide more details on its social channels on the morning of the strike.<\/p>\n