Sparebanken Vest will cut 100 full-time positions during 2016. At the same time disappears one of five branches.
This is the dramatic message that is going out to the employees of the bank.
– We will make adjustments to a shift towards digital. That means we must conduct a workforce reduction 100 FTEs in 2016 says director Lars Ove Breivik in Sparebanken Vest. In addition, nine branches shut down. There are offices Manger, Mastrevik, Ågotnes, Sund, Selje, Fitjar, Hinna, Dale and Samnanger, said the bank. After this, the bank will have 35 offices again.
In a press release, the Bank wrote that the number of manual transactions at the counter decreased by 78 percent. Only five percent of customers have visited bank premises during the last quarter.
Does not exclude layoffs
– We are in a period of change where banking and finance affected greatly. It will be a challenging transition for everyone in the sector will increase in coming years, says CEO Jan Erik Kjerpeseth in Sparebanken Vest.
– Does that mean that you notify further cuts?
– Yes, we do not see now how the organization we will have in five years will be. In fact it is so that we almost have stopped adding five plans, but works at 12-18 month term. Precisely because the development is so fast, explains Kjerpeseth.
– Will you manage to downsize 100 FTEs with voluntary agreements?
– We hope so, but now the bank is in a restructuring process that will result in downsizing where all redundant will be offered severance packages, also is not any relationship finished discussed with the unions yet, says Kjerpeseth.
IT investments
The cuts will apply to all area except the IT area. They spared the costs will just be used for investments in better digital offers and services.
Top Boss explains that Sparebanken Vest must step on the brake and gas simultaneously.
– In the same period that we should downsize we will invest 145 million in the IT sector. That’s 34 percent more than a year has passed, and tells you something about the structural adjustments that arise, says Kjerpeseth.
For the staff there will be a tough year ahead.
– It will be a demanding process, a large number. But such developments are, we see the need for changes. Big change for very many. We hope to achieve this by volunteering, says shop steward in the Finance Sector Union Anne Marit Hope
Changed behavior
– Changed customer behavior, increased digitization and tighter regulation sets large and changing demands of bank operations going forward. Customers’ use of banking is developing rapidly, and we must constantly stay ahead, says CEO Jan Erik Kjerpeseth in Sparebanken Vest.
The bank has been through several rounds of job cuts already. The reason lies in a strong use of Internet banking and mobile banking, where the need for manual services has become increasingly smaller. This development has also provided the basis for fewer branches, where the bank is left with 44 offices so far. This downsizing has so far taken place through severance package offered to the employees, thus the bank has completed crew cuts without layoffs.
Improved banking operations
Although the figures for 2015 are weaker than the year before, the banking operations improved considerably. This is because the shares in payment of Nets were sold in 2014, in addition to the bank’s properties. Operating profit was 1.5 billion, roughly 250 million lower than the result for 2014. The profit after tax amounted to just over one billion. In the fourth quarter of last year the bank forecasts that loan loss and guarantees increased to 81 million, against 25 million in the same quarter in 2014.
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