Standard Chartered Bank staff have been on strike since Monday May 22, 2023 in Douala and in Yaounde.

The strike ended yesterday May 24, 2023. The employees are calling for the payment of a severance bonus amounting to more than one month’s salary per year of service, with no ceiling, and the payment of a bonus that does not include any discrimination or consideration based on performance and/or quality of service.

On May 2, 2023, the bank’s employees sent a letter to the bank’s top management setting out the reasons for their anger. The reasons for their anger include amidst other reasons the mystery on the information on who is to take over Standard Chartered Bank Cameroon, following the group’s announcement that it is to sell off its Cameroonian subsidiary; the wage cuts announced in the event of a takeover by a new shareholder; and the uncertainty surrounding the preservation of their jobs and social benefits.

Although negotiations are underway, the strikers are not reassured. “We have learned that the buyer of the business intends to reduce our salaries for those who wish to continue the adventure, and we are going to reapply for our positions as new people in the same way as external profiles, after the conclusion of the agreement between the buyer, which they are voluntarily refusing to reveal to us, even though it was selected through a call for tenders”, said one striker.

In a press release issued on 14 April 2022, Standard Chartered Bank Plc announced its intention to cease all operations in 7 African countries (Angola, Cameroon, Gambia, Jordan, Lebanon, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe) and the Middle East. Pending approval from the regulatory authorities in each area, the British bank stated in its 2022 financial report that the net value of the assets to be sold in Africa and in the Middle East is estimated at $318 million, or 191.3 billion francs.