More than 500 jobs on the line as Standard Bank restructures IT division

Standard Bank [JSE:SBK] announced on Wednesday afternoon that it would be serving 526 IT employees with Section 189 notices as it looks to restructure its IT division's operating model. 

Section 189 notices must be sent to employees before any retrenchments can be carried out, according to SA labour law. 

"It is important to note that the Section 189 notices is not representative of the final number of employees who might leave the employment of Standard Bank after the consultative process has run its course. Of the impacted permanent staff, the majority are in the executive and managerial bands."  

The bank said a review of its IT capabilities concluded that it requires a "more adaptive approach for its IT operating model and requisite skills".

"The new structure will see the creation of new capabilities and roles within Standard Bank’s IT division, in areas such as cloud engineering, data science and analytics, cyber security, and APIs to enable an integrated ecosystem. This will create over 180 new-generation IT positions within the bank. Regrettably, this will also result in the loss of a number of existing traditional IT positions."