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Tag: bank workers

  • Whistle blowing: Bank workers under close watch

    Whistle blowing: Bank workers under close watch

    ·‘Big’ customers mount pressure on owners

    Banks have placed their workers under close watch following intense pressure by ‘big’ customers on majority shareholders and directors to monitor overzealous staff eager to take advantage of the whistle blowing initiative of the federal government.

    Account Officers from different banks told our correspondent the development was to prevent them from squealing on classified accounts by perceived looters and corrupt government officials.

    One of them, who confirmed the development off-record yesterday, said: “The close monitoring is very intense now as everyone now watches each other’s back.”

    But a Senior Account Manager in one of the commercial banks in Lagos, who also pleaded not to be named because of the sensitive nature of the matter, said the development was not new.

    He however admitted it has been increased lately.

    According to him: “Monitoring of bank workers is not new but it may be true we are more closely monitored today than what obtained before the introduction of the whistle blowing initiative.

    “That is understandable because there is the feeling amongst the top management that some overzealous workers, in a bid to take advantage of the initiative, may embarrass genuine prime customers.

    “This may account for introduction of measures to ensure no staff abuses his or her office to the detriment of the bank.

    “Besides this internal precaution, bank staff members and indeed banks are closely monitored by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) in a bid to recover looted funds,” he said.

    Explaining how bankers are being monitored, the top banker said: “Today, bank workers are closely monitored in two ways; officially and unofficially.

    “Officially, we are monitored by regulators like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    “There are also internal measures to ensure that bank members of staff do only what they are supposed to do.

    “This may differ from bank to bank. The practice is real though I cannot say here that such measures were introduced because the so-called big customers are mounting pressure on directors.

    “Perhaps, because the anti-corruption agencies know that bank workers occupy sensitive positions that may enable them to collude with public funds looters, they are today monitored more closely than politicians.”

    Another top bank worker at the Corporate Headquarters of one of the commercial banks in Lagos Island, who also pleaded not to be named, gave our correspondent a more precise description of how government agencies and bank management monitor workers in banks.

    “Recently, we were asked to fill Assets Declaration Forms. With this, they are able to monitor the progress rate of each staff.

    “Of course you know that with BVN, everybody’s accounts can be traced easily. Even if a banker has ten accounts in different banks, it would be easy to trace them.

    “In anticipation of false claims of sudden financial windfalls, they have also banned bank workers from betting. This means that no banker, found with suspicious huge sums of bank balance or assets he cannot ordinarily acquire with his income can claim to have become a billionaire overnight through betting.”

    The banker also explains that the regulators have set out certain guidelines that will help monitor workers and the banks themselves.

    “One of the policies currently employed to achieve this is the directive that all of us must regularly make Suspicious Transaction Report (STR).

    “Another is the requirement to report to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), the Nigerian arm of the global Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) domiciled within the EFCC.

    “These are part of the official monitoring procedures in practice today. It is perhaps the increasing demand to abide by these requirements that some workers are referring as undue monitoring,” he said.

    Efforts to get the confirmation of the CBN could not yield result as the Acting Director of Communication of CBN, Isaac Okoronkwo, neither picked his calls yesterday nor responded to our text message.

    But Chief Iheanacho Uko, a former banker and Principal Partner of U & A Consulting Ltd, said there is nothing strange with banks monitoring the activities of their staff.

    Quoting the “general guidelines on institutional policy of anti-money laundering/ combating,” he said there is nothing wrong with banks initiating internal measures to ensure their staff behave appropriately because “every financial institution is required to adopt policies stating its commitment to comply with AML/CFT obligations under the law and regulatory directives and to actively prevent any transaction that otherwise facilitates criminal activity or terrorism.”

    “Every financial institution is requested to formulate and implement internal controls and other procedures that will deter criminals from using its facilities for money laundering and terrorist financing and to ensure that its obligations are always met.”

  • Man harasses bank workers, customers with nailed-plank

    A 33-year-old man, Taiye Jimoh, has appeared before an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court for allegedly stoning and pursuing some bank workers and customers with a nailed plank.
    Jimoh is being tried for alleged breach of the peace, intent to commit felony and threat to life.
    According to Inspector George Nwosu, the accused committed the offence between October 15 and November 8 at Iju, Lagos.
    He said the accused entered into the premises of a branch of Union Bank PLC with the intent to commit felony.
    “The accused was found wandering for an illegal and disorderly purpose,” he said.
    Nwosu said the accused intimidated the bank’s workers and customers by throwing stones and pursuing them with a nailed-plank.
    “The accused was always in the bank’s premises in the past three weeks; threatening the staff and customers with stones and a nailed-plank on it.
    “Whenever he was asked to leave as he may be a spy who had come to monitor the bank’s activities, he would turn violent.
    “The accused was neither a customer nor was he operating an account with the bank,” he said.
    The prosecutor said the offence contravened Sections 51,166 and 306 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Section 306(1) prescribes five years’ jail term for offenders.
    The accused pleaded not guilty and was granted N100,000 bail with two sureties in the like sum.
    Magistrate A.A. Adesanya adjourned the case till January 16.

  • Two bank workers docked for alleged N7.8m fraud

    Two bank workers docked for alleged N7.8m fraud

    Two microfinance bank (MFB), who allegedly obtained N7.8 million from customers were yesterday charged before an Ojo Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos.

    Linus Mgbecheta, 48, and Ifunaya Obioha, 35, are standing trial on a five-count charge of fraud and theft.

    Prosecuting Inspector Uche Simon, said the accused committed the offence between October 2015 and April 4 at Alaba International Market in Ojo area of Lagos.

    Simon said the accused obtained N6.8 million from three customers on the pretext that the money would be paid back.

    He said the accused also between February and March issued dud cheques valued at N500,000 each to True Wisdom Electrical Company owned by one of the customers.

    The duo pleaded not guilty.

    Chief Magistrate Paul Adedamola granted the accused N300,000 bail each, with two sureties each in the like sum. He ordered that half of the amount be deposited in the chief registrar’s account.

    Adedamola said the sureties, who must be gainfully employed, should also present evidence of three years’ tax payment.

    The sureties’ addresses, he added, must also be verified by the court’s officials.

    Further hearing has been fixed for June 21.

  • TSA: Sack fever grips bank workers

    TSA: Sack fever grips bank workers

    There is palpable fear in the financial services sector, especially the banking industry, over possible job losses. This may be because of the serious liquidity problems facing the banks, following the implementation of Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy, TOBA AGBOOLA reports.

    For workers in the financial services sector, especially banks, these are challenging times. With the implementation of Federal Government’s  Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy that mandates all Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to remit revenue into a single account, many bank workers have become restless.

    For them, the fear of job losses, following serious depletion of liquidity in the banks as a result of the policy, is the beginning of wisdom. There is widespread apprehension that the policy could lead to rationalisation of workers.

    Such  apprehension may have been fuelled  by the rush by MDAs, in an attempt  to beat the September 15 deadline set by Secretary to the Federal Government, to pull out N1.2trillion, about $60billion from commercial banks to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Also, no fewer than 20,000 accounts were said to have been closed.

    The effect of such huge remittance, it was learnt, was that commercial banks’ balances with the CBN usually earmarked for foreign exchange or bond purchases plunged from N73billion to N4.86billion. Already, banks are facing liquidity squeeze as the inter-bank, few weeks back, halted trading for three consecutive days due to sharp liquidity decline in the system. This was attributed to the implementation of TSA policy.

    Expectedly, the liquidity decline has triggered fear within labour circles, with bank workers jittery over possible rationalisation.

    Factional President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Joe Ajaero, says any policy that could lead to job loss does not only negate the quest for economic recovery, but also hinders national development. “Without employment, any policy geared towards empowering the majority and lifting them out of poverty, unfortunately, becomes a mirage,” he said.

    According to Ajaero, anti-corruption, employment creation and eradication of poverty are part of the cardinal programmes of this administration, which it has re-emphasised since assumption of office.

    While noting that these have been the expectations of many Nigerians, he said anything short of this would automatically force the organised labour to raise eyebrows.

    President, Association of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), Comrade Sunday Salako, is no less worried.

    He said retrenching workers would worsen the country’s economy and bring untold hardships on the people, especially those employed in the banking sector. He advised banks not to be in a hurry to axe jobs because government can reverse the policy if it becomes harmful to the economy.

    “Employers should not be in a hurry to cut jobs just because of a single policy. Before the policy, banks were making money and declaring fabulous balance sheets. The government can look at the policy and reverse it if they believe it can harm the economy,” he said. He however, said the huge sum of N1.2trillion moved out of the commercial banks to the CBN because of the TSA could affect the economy.

    According to Salako, anything affects the liquidity of banks will also affect their ability to lend to operators in the economy. He said the only agent that could kick-start the economy and make it robust is the banking sector and that if such money was taken from them and given to the CBN to keep, it was capable of hurting the banks.

    Salako however, said ASSBIFI is yet to advise government on the TSA because the union believes that the goal of the policy was to fight corruption and rebuild the economy. He said: “We want to be fair to the government, maybe in the process of finding a way to tackle corruption, TSA is the measure recommended to them. But with the policy and seeing the reactions of Nigerians, they can look at these reactions and try to harmonise the best way to move the country forward if the policy is not yielding the desired result.”

    Similarly, the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE) urged the Federal Ministry of Finance to workout modalities on the implementation of the TSA that would not lead to job losses in the financial sector.

    The group, while speaking to reporters in Lagos, described the policy as a threat to the existence of banks due to the poor saving culture of Nigerians, low income level and high inflation rate which make total disposable income of the average worker worthless.

    NUBIFIE advised the Federal Government to think of better ways of creating jobs rather than creating a policy that will lead to job losses.

    Its National President, Comrade Danjuma Musa, said his group will resist any attempt to axe jobs due to the implementation of the policy, adding that as laudable as the objectives of TSA may sound, the blanket directive to warehouse all funds in CBN will have far reaching implication on the economy.

    According to Musa, the policy will surely slow down business transactions because most businesses in the country depend on loans to finance their projects. The pronouncement, he said, sent shock waves to  the financial services industry due to the weak economy and the low capacity of banks.

    “As a union, we sympathise with the banking community due to the effect of the Federal Government’s decision in its daily operations. We recall that during the consolidation and merger policy implementation, the effect of that policy was that it wiped out many banks from existence and brought about serious job losses,” Musa recalled, insisting that members of the group will not condone job loss this time.

    An economic analyst, Funso Adeyemi, said although the policy was good, as it would curb corruption in the system, it will also worsen the existing high unemployment rate in the country. He said already over 4, 000 workers had been laid off in public and private sectors in the last few weeks.

    According to the Managing Director, First Rit Nigeria Limited, Mr. Eric Umezurike, the purpose of allowing MDAs to operate separate accounts with commercial banks in the past and remit revenue generated after meeting their recurrent expenditures was to encourage workers of such agencies to amass wealth at the expense of their compatriots. He stated that it is reasonable that government has realised its mistake through the exemption of some agencies.

    The government recently exempted 12 agencies including the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) from abiding by the policy.

    In spite of this, Umezurike said the entire policy was a decision taken without thinking of the mechanics of how its implementation will work.

    He expressed worries that bank workers handling public accounts may be retrenched, as there will be no need to retain them in service.

     

    Bank workers speak

    Some workers who pleaded to remain anonymous, said the directive raised fears of possible retrenchment in the sector. They noted that contrary to Federal Government’s promise of creating over three million jobs yearly, the new policy will invariably lead to job losses in the financial sector and the federal agencies.

    It is feared that agencies whose workers may be affected by the policy include the CBN, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

    Others are the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigeria Shippers Council (NSC), NNPC, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), among others.

    According to Mr Justus Oke, a worker with one of the old generation banks in Lagos, bank liquidity has continued to drop as many banks are moving money to the CBN in compliance with the government’s directive, even as banks continue to provide funding for advance payment for foreign exchange purchases.

    A public affairs analyst, Mr. Victor Ohai however, said the policy will strengthen banks to source for funds rather than relying on deposits from government agencies;  banks will be forced to adopt strategies of generating revenue by granting financial support to small scale industries, which are the engines of any economy.

    Banks must support the agric sector by granting loans to farmers at low interest rates so as to enhance the development of the agric sector and by extension, achieve self-sufficiency in food production. By next year, there will be a paradigm shift away from the past when banks relied on public sector funding.

    He further said the banking sector will focus on retail banking, which requires mass employment and not retrenchment of workers.

    Another analyst, Mr. Odili Ewepa, also said TSA will block leakages and enhance monitoring of revenue accruing to the CBN. He called for electronic-collection whereby all payments into the treasury account is reflected simultaneously in the budget office and offices of other relevant government agencies.

    Ewepa further stated that TSA will ensure that nobody utilises public fund without appropriation as it is the practice in other parts of the world. He dismissed insinuations that the policy will lead to retrenchment of workers in banks as baseless, noting that it will make banks come out of their comfort zone.

    According to him, the era when a worker would be appointed assistant general manager because he or she was able to attract a ministry to deposit funds in the bank is now over. Ewepa said with the present situation, banks will concentrate on developing small scale enterprises as practised in other parts of the world such as China and Indonesia.

    President Muhammadu Buhari, on assumption of office,  ordered that all revenues be paid into the TSA as a way to stem corruption and aid transparency. According to him, the scheme would automate revenue collection of all MDAs directly into the Consolidated Revenue Fund account of the CBN.

    The TSA was aimed at promoting transparency and facilitating compliance with Sections 80 and 162 of the 1999 Constitution.

    Independent Revenue e-Collection Scheme is implemented under TSA initiative, which requires that government revenue collection is put into a single account for proper cash management.

    Experts say the implementation of TSA would help curb corruption in the system, urging workers to embrace the new policy. But as it turned out, the closure of MDAs’ accounts domiciled in commercial banks and transferred to the Federation Account has caused huge revenue loss by banks. The fear now is that this would in turn, affect workers in form of right-sizing.

    However, the Federal Government has said that it would relax its rule on the TSA implementation to give special attention to security agencies.

    Speaking in Abuja  when he received the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase, in his office, last week, the Accountant- General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, said special attention would be given to security agencies in the implementation of the policy in view of the recognition of security of lives and property as one of the cardinal agenda of President Buhari’s administration.

    During the commencement of implementation of the policy, the AGF had insisted that there was no exemption for MDAs.

    The AGF did not give details of what the special attention would entail, he identified the security institutions that would benefit from the concession.

    They include the Police and the Armed Forces to enable them continue to successfully deliver on their respective mandates of securing the country.

    The AGF said his office was aware of the enormous responsibility the security agencies were facing in the fight to contend with armed robbery, insurgency, kidnapping and other societal vices.

    Idris said: “The government will ensure that the release of money required for the execution of all special operations aimed at overcoming these evils were not in any way affected by the implementation of the TSA.”

    He reassured the MDAs that the policy on the TSA was not meant to hamper their activities, but to entrench a more transparent, efficient and robust management of public funds towards the speedy realisation of government plans and programmes.’’

    He explained that the days of carrying money in sacks to payment points were gone, adding that the TSA would complement the existing electronic payment platforms.

    Some revenue generating agencies have made cases for the policy to be relaxed to accommodate their peculiar needs towards discharging their responsibilities.

  • Sack fever grips bank workers

    Sack fever grips bank workers

    • ASSBIFI: we‘ll insist on due process

    The fall in the value of the naira, may soon start taking its toll on the banking sector as lenders may axe jobs to cut costs, especially on pay cheques.

    Already, some workers in the banks have started looking inwards, exploring what they described as option B should the unexpected happens.

    Some of them said economic realities are negatively affecting the bottom line of the lenders, fearing that their jobs were on the line.

    Confirming this development, President, Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), Mr Olusoji Salako, said banks would  look at what they could do to reduce their expenses, adding that job loss would be one of the first steps. He pledged to ensure that the banks follow due process in laying-off their workers and paying them off.

    He said: “You know in Nigeria, we don’t have good temperament for economic summersault. If somebody invests and things are not working fine, the next thing is to remove people working with him. In other climes, people will persevere but here in Nigeria, people don’t persevere when it comes to such issue.

    “We are, however, bracing and also monitoring the employers to ensure that if become necessary to lay off their workers, due process must be followed and people affected must be well compensated so that they can function in any part of the economy.”

    He said though the economy has witnessed interventions by the government apart from the austerity measure, the common man on the street is feeling the pain ýbecause nothing is really working now.

    He said: “The government is just trying to make money to pay salaries and nothing is left for any infrastructural development or any other intervention in the critical sectors of the economy. This is as a result of fall in the oil price.

    “The question would be that when we have the price of oil rising in the couple of years back, what did we do with the excess money we made?

    “We just squandered the money and you know anything that goes up must come down. If we have been managing our resources prudently, it is likely we would not have experienced this kind of problem. All we need to do is deep our hands in the excess crude account and use that as an intervention measure to augment what we have.

    “Now, we are faced with the reality now that things will not be as easier as before and to worsen the situation every effort of government is to make the rich richer and the poor people poorer because if you have few dollars, you become richer in naira wise and the average who wants to anything will use foreign currency and will pay more.”