The announcement was made this Thursday by the bank's management at a press conference and is provided for in the restructuring plan for the state financial institution.
According to executive director Victor Cardoso, BPC currently has 4820 workers and provides a compensation package of 18 billion kwanzas, in accordance with the Angolan labour law, plus a premium to support the integration of workers into economic life.
The compensation package will include "two facilities for the dismissed worker to have the possibility of a quick return to economic life," said Victor Cardoso, adding that the bank will sponsor training and provide a credit so that workers can develop an economic activity related to this vocational training.
The president of BPC's board of directors, André Lopes, indicated that the resizing process also contemplates retirement "and even early retirement", and mechanisms are being studied to encourage workers close to retirement to join.
André Lopes stated that the objectives of the BPC Recapitalisation and Restructuring Plan include making the bank's commercial network more sustainable "in accordance with its role", reducing operating costs by 30 per cent and outsourcing non-core services.
The process of readjusting the commercial structure foresees the closure of at least 60 branches, according to Victor Cardoso, although there may be readjustments.
"We're doing a feasibility study to find out if a particular agency can match its costs," André Lopes added.
In order to counteract the closure of the branches, a banking agent project is being developed "so that the bank can tertiarise" some services and the implementation of a mobile bank project.
"This is something that we intend to promote in order to ensure the provision of the service where there is no permanent branch that can go to certain locations, at specific times of the month", said the president of BPC.
André Lopes stressed that the plan is adjusted to the bank's large recapitalisation needs and said that the current credit portfolio has a "high level of default" which has determined impairments that should be remedied "if conditions are created for the bank to operate in the market in conditions comparable with the competition".
More than 80 per cent of non-performing loans belong to private companies, in particular trade (29 per cent), services (23 per cent) and construction (19 per cent).
Measures in the plan also include the sale of real estate and other assets for non own use, as well as the optimisation of financial holdings.
André Lopes also said that the bank, whose main shareholder is the Ministry of Finance, intends to settle all debt to the National Bank of Angola by the end of the year.
