Wednesday, February 17, 2010

For once, I am (almost) proud to be an Absa customer

I bank with Absa. And I have for years.
Over the years, I have seen my banking charges rapidly increase. For the past 3 years, I have threatened to close my accounts, and move to FNB. FNB has fixed pricing options where transactional and monthly charges are capped.

3 weeks ago, I opened my FNB account. FNB's pricing.....competitive. FNB's service.....spectacular

I now bank with both Absa and FNB. And while FNB has won my business through great service and competitive pricing, Absa has won my praise through its most recent 'cutting' exercise

Absa's results were released this week and the details appeared in yesterday's press. Net income dropped by 36 percent, to R6,8bil (from R10.7 bil).

Absa has announced that it will be cutting the directors' and executives' bonuses. 35 percent of incentive pay will be in cash, with the balance paid over 3 years.

Speaking on behalf of Absa, the acting head of human resources, Nadine Drutman, said:

“Given where the earnings are, we don’t think it’s appropriate to go with huge cash bonuses,”

There are still questions I would like answered:

- Why are the executive receiving bonuses in the first place?

- By how much has each executive's bonus been reduced?

- How many people have been retrenched due to 'adverse' trading conditions?
Despite these questions, Absa deserves praise for taking the bold move of cutting executives' bonuses

1 comment:

  1. Yes you can praise a statement like that.
    But why the hell are you still banking with them.
    Close the account.

    ReplyDelete