In a move to make itself ?lean & fit?, state-owned lender Union Bank of India has restructured the organisation by doing away with a whole tier, consisting of nine zonal offices. Instead, the bank?s regional offices will be strengthened. The decision was implemented earlier this week, according to MV Nair, chairman & managing director of the bank.
?We have removed the zonal office tier from the organisation to become a flatter entity and re-deployed 246 employees. The move will improve our decision making by 33%,? Nair said.
The country?s sixth largest public sector bank now has three tiers? branches, regional offices and a head office. However, the bank, which currently has 2,680 branches and 54 regional offices, will continue with its Uttar Pradesh (UP) zonal office for a year. UP will continue to have zonal office as the state has 11 regions and the bank is a lead bank in 11 districts of the state, Nair said.
Union Bank as already created various business verticals, including MSME, retail, agriculture, personal finance and large corporates. The leaner structure will also help increase focus on different geographies. ?We have rejigged the organisation after putting in place the technology and business process reengineering (BPR),? he added. The bank recently appointed Hewitt as its HR consultant, at a time when the banking sector is facing a shortage of manpower since 58% of middle -level managers will be retiring from the bank in next two years.