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FT: Malaysian Banks to Cut 15,000 Jobs Despite Protests By Douglas Wong 26/7/2001 6:05 pm Thu |
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[Apakah bank sedang sakit atau sihat? Rencana ini mendedahkan apa yang
berlaku kepada sektor perbankan sekarang akibat NPL yang semakin meningkat.
- Editor] By Douglas Wong in Singapore Published: July 25 2001 16:57GMT Malaysia's banks are pressing ahead with downsizing exercises
that are expected to result in about 15,000 job losses, despite
complaints from the national trade union congress.
To date, Malaysia's two largest banks, Maybank and
Bumiputera-Commerce Bank, have cut their workforces by 10 per
cent and 15 per cent respectively, or a total of 2,650 jobs
through voluntary separation schemes.
Affin Bank, another of the 10 Malaysian banks left standing after
a consolidation exercise that brought together 54 financial
institutions at the end of last year, plans to cut its 4,000-strong
workforce by 25 per cent, Dow Jones Newswires reported on Wednesday.
Affin Holdings, the bank's listed parent, had reported a net loss
of M$142m (US$37.4m) last week, which it blamed on rising bad loans
at its recently acquired BSN Commercial Bank. While the banks have
been offering generous separation packages - Maybank said it would
spend M$90m on its exercise and Bumiputera-Commerce M$150m - unions
have attacked the schemes. Zainal Rampak, Malaysian TUC president, said last week that banks
were failing to honour pledges given that the mergers would not
result in job losses, and replacing workers with non-unionised staff.
The National Union of Bank Employees has warned that 15,000 of
Malaysia's almost 80,000 bank staff will lose their jobs, but the
government said it expects less than 10,000 retrenchments in the
sector. Analysts said banks have to cut costs in the face of rising
bad loans, but may have to spend as much as a total of M$1bn on
voluntary schemes. |