KCB staff count drops by 223 in cost-cutting drive

What you need to know:

The bank issued about 2,500 of its Kenyan staff with new contracts, amending their terms and conditions, a move which the banking industry’s union contested in court.
The bank, in a statement Friday, said it has been reviewing its operations over two years in order to “improve efficiency”.
KCB in February said it was in the process of laying off an undisclosed number of staff in its Kenyan unit to cut expenses.

KCB Group #ticker:KCB last year spent Sh186 million to pay staff affected by a restructuring of the company in a period when the bank’s employee count dropped by 223 people, its latest annual report shows.

The bank, the country’s largest lender by assets, closed 2016 with 7,192 employees compared to 7,415 the previous year as restructuring costs shot up by Sh145 million from the previous year’s Sh41 million.

READ: KCB confirms plans to send home Kenya staff after Rwanda layoffs

KCB, which has operations in Uganda, Rwanda Tanzania, Burundi and South Sudan, last year executed a restructuring plan in line with the formation of KCB Group Limited, a non-operating holding company which owns all subsidiaries.

The bank issued about 2,500 of its Kenyan staff with new contracts, amending their terms and conditions, a move which the banking industry’s union contested in court.

“We have been gradually restructuring our cost structure to prepare us for the new era of lean institutions,” Joshua Oigara, KCB Group’s chief executive, says in the report.

The bank, in a statement Friday, said it has been reviewing its operations over two years in order to “improve efficiency” and has had to “relook our workforce in order to keep with an industry that is undergoing “major transformation”.

KCB in February said it was in the process of laying off an undisclosed number of staff in its Kenyan unit to cut expenses following “fast evolving technology changes, and a dynamic regulatory regime.”