Raiffeisen Bank said it planned to slow on hiring this year, thus the departure of staff will lead to a natural contraction of workforce by end-2009. In late 2008, the bank had 6,800 staff, said the CEO of Raiffeisen Bank Romania, Steven van Groningen.
“If in 2008, nearly 100 persons would leave the bank and we hired 200 persons instead, the staff will now decrease naturally by 30-40 persons. In January and February, we slowed down recruitment, however, the departure still outpaces hire of staff”, said van Groningen.
He expects workforce to reduce by the end of 2009, from 6,800 contract staff in December 2008.
The CEO of the bank said the level of staff spending at Raiffeisen Bank Romania accounted for roughly 50% of overall spending of the lender.
Raiffeisen Bank reported a net profit of 165 mln euros for last year, up 75.6% from a year earlier, on strong growth driven by interests and fees, the bank said in a press release earlier today.
Volksbank Romania said it would not close down any branch and that it would keep staff. “As long as costs are under control, we have no plan in laying off staff”, said the CEO of Volksbank Romania, Gerald Schreiner. In 2009, the bank aims at reducing the costs/revenue ratio to 44.7% from 49.6% in 2008.
The Chief Financial Officer at Erste Group, Manfred Wimmer, said recently that the layoffs scheduled for the coming period in Romanian market, for reducing BCR’s headcount are part of the group’s restructuring program and had no connection to the financial crisis. The group said it would continue its expansion plan for BCR network.
He stressed that pay packages at BCR would rise by 1% below the inflation rate, which would anyway temper down this year. Wimmer added that the focus must be shifted from the basic salaries to earnings based on performance.
Credit Europe Bank demanded the resi
