As businesses worldwide take a hit as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Access Bank has informed employees that it will be implementing a reduced pay-structure, affecting all employees, including its Group Managing Director, Herbert Wigwe.

The reduction is expected to significantly reduce the Bank’s operating expense as it navigates through the uncertainties surrounding the global pandemic.

Deducing from the announcement,  Wigwe will be taking a 40 percent reduction in annual income.

Since the pandemic, businesses have been significantly hit and have been confronted with the difficult decision to make necessary adjustments in terms of their cost structure to ensure that they come out of the pandemic stronger

Speaking on the decision made by the bank, Wigwe said: “ We are today, as an institution faced with the current economic crisis resulting from the pandemic, we have taken certain measures to control costs across the institution at all levels, to achieve greater efficiency and continue to run a profitable business post COVID-19.

In a statement made available to CEOAFRICA, Wigwe noted that the Bank, with a strength of over 30,000 employees, is not oblivious of the difficult times but is determined to ensure that it’s staff remains in employment.

“To keep to this commitment, we have made a decision at management level to restructure salaries. This will start with me, who will have a salary restructure of 40 percent while other employees will have their salaries slightly reduced as well. It has become essential to take this decision in the interim, considering economic realities and hope to reverse it as soon as economic activities become stable,” Wigwe said.

He assured the bank’s customers of smooth customer service experience to enable them to transact seamlessly amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, while it continues to apply sustainable business practices to ensure that it delivers value to stakeholders even after the Coronavirus pandemic.

According to the statement, Wigwe, in a podcast to employees, explained:  “As part of the Bank’s commitment to protecting the lives of our staff, we adhered to all directives from government agencies and global health organisations, and reduced our capacity to operate profitably.

“For an institution like ours, it is important for us to rationalise our cost structure, service provider structure and salary structure, all in a bid to drive greater efficiency to weather the storm ahead.”

“In fulfilling our promise and ensuring the long-term durability of our commitment not to retrench employees, we have made the difficult decision to minimally reduce salaries of staff, using a top-bottom approach.

“This is a challenging time for businesses all over the world and while we can’t predict when the pandemic will end, we are committed to innovating our business operations to ensure normalcy is restored to our payment structure,” he said.

The statement further explained that the drive for greater efficiency to withstand the effects of Coronavirus pandemic on businesses underpinned recent decisions by Access Bank Plc.

Wigwe revealed that the institution was taking proactive measures to remain a solid institution post Covid-19.

At its Annual General Meeting (AGM), last Thursday, the CEO had informed shareholders the bank was already addressing the issue of high operating expenses and taking drastic measures to ensure that expenses are reduced significantly. This is to ensure that Access Bank remains strong and profitable when this is over.

“Going into this difficult times several companies across the world are taking cost cutting measures including staff rationalisation, some adopting furlough to remain in business. The Nigerian economy is not insulated from the threat of another recession arising from a crash in oil prices and the Covid-19 pandemic that has shattered businesses, he explained.

Speaking on how Access Bank is running its business in the COVID-19 period, Wigwe assured that the bank has put in place  a robust business continuity process enough to sustain the Bank’s performance going forward.

“Access Bank was well prepared for the COVID-19 early enough and created ways of working from home and working with our customers. We   set up links with our customers and devise ways of reaching out to them three or four times in a day.  This happened even before we started working with the larger society and enabled us to start fighting this pandemic,” he concluded.