Panayiotis Rougalas
Bank of Cyprus will reduce its staff by 500 people by 2022 and is expected to close 20 of its branches reducing the number to 60 in total.
During its presentation of the first-quarter results of 2022, the bank announced it would reduce costs by closing 25% of its branches and reducing 15% of its staff. According to the bank's financial data, the Group employs 3,395 people.
The Ceo of the Bank of Cyprus, Panikos Nikolaou, noted that the Group held its employees in high regard and that discussions would first take place before redundancy procedures would begin. He also stated that work had already begun on modifying the working structure of the bank using 15% fewer employees.
When asked whether a Voluntary Exit Plan would be offered to redundant employees, he answered that the Bank of Cyprus has proceeded with staff reductions so far only with Voluntary Exit Plans.
Staff costs at 50 million
Staff costs at the Bank of Cyprus amounted to €50 million for the first quarter of 2022, due to voluntary staff retirement plans, the renewal of the agreement with the bank employee's union, and despite inflation in the first quarter. quarter 2022.
In July 2021, the Bank reached an agreement with the Cyprus Banking Employees Association (ETYK) for the renewal of the collective agreement for the years 2021 and 2022. The agreement concerned a number of changes including a revised system of grades and fees which was linked rate of employment, as well as the introduction of remuneration on the basis of the performance of each staff member, which would be part of the annual salary increase. These two changes are long-term goals of the Bank and are in line with best practices. The expected effect of the renewal of the collective agreement is the increase in staff costs for the years 2021 and 2022 by 3-4% per year and is in line with the effect of respective renewals for previous years.
The Group had a total of 3,395 people employed as of March 31, 2022, compared to 3,438 people reported on December 31, 2021. In the first quarter of 2022, the Group, through its subsidiary, completed a voluntary retirement plan (CPS), through which a small number of employees of the Group were approved for retirement, with a total cost of € 3 million recognized in the consolidated income statement for the first quarter of 2022 as a non-recurring item on the underlying basis (compared to a total cost of € 16 million recognized in fourth quarter 2021, through which about 100 employees of the Group were approved to leave, with net annual savings estimated at about 3% of staff costs).
[This article was translated from its Greek original]
