Published: 24 April 2014

THE Zimbabwe Banking and Allied Workers' Union (Zibawu) has said ZB Bank and Steward Bank are in the process of terminating jobs of 335 employees as the two institutions embark on rationalisation of their operations.

Zibawu assistant secretary-general Shepherd Ngandu said ZB Bank wants to terminate contracts of 208 contract workers while Steward Bank will render 127 people jobless.

"The employees from ZB were not employed under ZB, but through a special purpose vehicle which the company has now abandoned. ZB now wants to outsource from another company," said Ngandu.

He said employees at Steward Bank had so far received letters from the employer of retrenchment.

Ngandu, however, said the reason for the retrenchments had not been communicated to the affected workers.

"This is a shock because when Econet entered the financial services sector, we thought they would create more jobs. Instead they are doing the reverse," Ngandu said.

Econet snapped a controlling shareholding in TN Bank last year after they swapped shares with Tawanda Nyambirai, the founder of TN Bank.

Econet changed the bank's name to Steward, which has 20 branches in the country.

Retrenchments in the financial services sector increased when the country dollarised with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe having to shed off 1 300 workers who were employed under the quasi-fiscal activities.

Most companies in the country are struggling to produce as liquidity problems continue to bite.

- newsday

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