Another Ghanaian bank lays off 100 staff following merger

The official notice served the staff of the company said that May 3, 2019, will be their last working day with the bank.

According to the people who asked to remain anonymous, they told Bloomberg that each of the 100 staff will receive a severance package equal to one-month salary for every year worked. They were also told at a meeting on April 30 that they will get 20 percent off any outstanding loans, the people said.

When contacted by Bloomberg, Jonas Safo Adu, the head of human resources at First Atlantic Bank, declined to comment on the matter.

First Atlantic’s first-quarter capital adequacy ratio rose to 30 percent following the closure of the deal, from 26 percent at the end of March last year, it said in a statement. Non-performing loans doubled to 24 percent.

The lenders started merger talks in December 2018 to meet the Bank of Ghana’s new Minimum Capital Requirements after an initial public offering by Energy Commercial Bank failed.

However, the merger documents prepared for the Bank of Ghana indicated that all staff would be retained for the first two years after the deal, the people said.

It is not certain yet if the Bank of Ghana will insist that First Atlantic Bank follows the document to the letter.

Meanwhile, some of the affected employees, most of who are from Energy Commercial, have said that they will petition the country’s National Labour Commission this week since they were not given enough notice. They also argue that their severance payments are inadequate.