Abu Dhabi's ADCB to lay off 400 staff, projects redundancies every year

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) will lay off around 400 staff, and projects certain number of redundancies every year as part of normal course of business.

The layoffs are part of the bank's restructuring plan to cut costs by managing out its underachievers and deploying talented people in the growing sections such as digital banking.

"A certain number of redundancies are therefore expected every year in the normal course of business," the bank's spokesperson said.

Reuters said ADCB will cut 400 workers mainly in consumer business and senior management people.

In March 2020, the Abu Dhabi-based lender had stated that it will not lay off people in 2020 due to Covid-19.

The bank also has a major exposure of Dh3.6 billion to troubled NMC Health.

Banks in the UAE are also cutting costs because of the impact of Covid-19 as pressure mounts on their financial positions. Human resources analysts project that the banking and financial sector in the UAE will see 10-15 per cent reduction in workforce this year.

As banks go digital, they are also closing branches and reducing staff. ADCB reportedly plans to close 20 branches as well.

ADCB's first-quarter 2020 net profit dropped 84 per cent after it took Dh1.1 billion impairments. Its shares plunged 2.3 per cent to Dh5.020 on Tuesday.

waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com