‘No staff will be affected in 2022’ — Standard Chartered confirms closure of Nigerian branches

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

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

In a statement made available to TheCable on Wednesday, Dayo Aderugbo, head, corporate affairs, brand and marketing, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited, assured employees that there would be no job losses.

“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 statement reads.

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.

“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 statement adds.

“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.”