Some 100 staff of First Atlantic Bank (FAB) who have been retrenched as part of the merger between FAB and the erstwhile Energy Commercial Bank, have rejected their severance package.

The retrenchment affected staff of the two banks which got merged. Negotiations, according to sources within the bank, are also ongoing regarding the severance package and will be completed soon.

In a statement released by the affected staff, they said: “We the Concerned Staff of First Atlantic Bank are rejecting the severance package being offered to us by the management of the bank”.

“We also want to put on record that the bank has violated our rights by not giving us at least three months’ notice ahead of the termination of our appointment and also failing to negotiate our severance package with us”, the affected staff said.

They described the bank’s working environment as “unfriendly, unpalatable and a hellhole”, adding that: “We will always solidarise with the staff, particularly the erstwhile Energy Commercial Bank staff who were joined to FAB through the merger and we urge them not to be intimidated by the Odunfa led-guerilla management team”.

Class News source familiar with the development say the redundancy was as a result of the duplication of roles which came about due to the merger between the two banks. The merger was necessitated by the quest of the two banks to meet the GHS400 million minimum capital requirement of the Bank of Ghana.

Retrenchments have been known to be part of mergers and acquisitions as have happened to some staff of other banks in the country recently.

Sources say an independent consultant made the recommendations which the management of the bank subsequently adopted.