Nube wants Bank Negara to safeguard Citibank workers' future
National Union of Bank Employees (Nube) general secretary J Solomon has expressed concern following the announcement by Citigroup Inc of its intention to exit from its consumer operations in Malaysia and run its operations from other countries, including Singapore.
Saying that the bank failed to engage Nube prior to making the announcement and has been vague about the future of its staff, he called on Bank Negara to step in on the workers' behalf.
"In making this announcement, Citibank has left many questions unanswered, especially the fate of its workers who have served the seven Citibank headquarters and branches diligently for over 60 years in Malaysia," said Solomon in a statement today.
In a statement on Thursday, Citigroup Inc CEO Jane Fraser said the bank would exit from its consumer franchises in 13 markets, including Malaysia, and operate the consumer banking franchise in Asia and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa solely from Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, and London.
She said that the 12 other affected businesses include consumer franchises in Australia, Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
"The CEO of Citi Malaysia has not commented on the longer-term job security of its staff, arising from the bank’s exit from Malaysia.
"Instead, he merely offered a vague statement that there would be no immediate change to staffing requirements, which is not comforting the workers, as their future prospects with the bank are in serious doubt," said Solomon.
He also said there was no prior engagement with Nube before the announcement, on the future of Citibank employees, especially Nube members.
The dearth of information and the absence of any clear commitment from Citibank to ensure workers keep their jobs are deeply regretted, he said, adding that the CEO has invited Nube for a meeting in the coming week and that they hoped to obtain a clearer picture of this global decision undertaken by the bank.
Solomon also called for the government to review the Financial Services Act and other associated legislation to ensure bank decisions are not based merely on commercial considerations, especially those that impact workers and customers.
"With the advent of digital banking which will see more players in the already crowded financial services sectors, banks, especially international banks, are expected to downsize or minimise their retail and over-the-counter services to focus on the ‘big fishes,’ or the corporate sector.
"However, the government and Bank Negara must be mindful that business decisions must not be solely based on the bottom line.
"There are social impacts, which must be accounted for. For example, the livelihood and lives of workers and their dependents," he said.
Solomon accused Bank Negara of keeping quiet about Citibank's latest move and said the central bank should voice its displeasure over the issue.
He claimed that the silence could allow other multinational banks to do the same down the road, leading to dire consequences for workers and the people.
He said Citibank was among a host of multinational banks which were given licenses to operate in Malaysia decades ago after they gave their commitment to respect international conventions and provide equal access to the consumer banking needs for both rural and urban Malaysia.
"However, having obtained the government’s approval to open shop in Malaysia, banks like Citibank ‘quietly’ ignored their own pledges and international norms, by choosing to operate almost exclusively in major urban centres, thereby ignoring people in the rural areas.
"In the process, the multinational banks reaped hefty profits that are shipped out of the country annually.
"This practice has continued unabated for many years as there was no intervention by the government nor Bank Negara to ensure the multinational banks such as Citibank served the ordinary rakyat, both in urban and rural Malaysia," he said.
Solomon's said he viewed Citibank Malaysia’s latest move to focus exclusively on institutional business as the height of cherry-picking and discriminative business practices in the country.
"The least profitable side of banking, including over-the-counter service and consumer banking, is ignored despite being an essential service to the people.
"Citibank’s move is a drastic step in that direction and may well see its branches closed or downsized with workers laid off and individual clients being left in a lurch," he said. - Mkini
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