Postfinance wants to become more efficient and is cutting jobs

With these measures, Postfinance aims to stop the negative trend in the company's results, which has been going on for several years, and avoid a slide into the red, according to a company statement on Tuesday. In addition to efficiency improvements, the financial services provider also plans to invest in new business areas.

In the new strategy period, Postfinance will divide its business into four independent business units, which are to operate "largely autonomously" and independently of each other. The new "Business Units" comprise the "Payment Solutions" area with payment transactions, "Retail Banking", the "Digital First Banking" area with a new digital bank and the "Platform Business" with the Valuu platform.

Consultation procedure

The planned reduction of around 130 jobs will primarily affect the retail banking division, a Postfinance spokesman told AWP. Jobs are likely to be eliminated in areas such as customer advisory services and marketing, but also in areas such as IT, operations and human resources.

A further 260 Postfinance jobs will also be subject to "labor law adjustments" - which for those affected may primarily mean new functions or, in certain cases, a new place of work.

The planned job cuts necessitate a consultation process, Postfinance said. In this process, the employees affected will be able to submit proposals on how any redundancies can be avoided or their number limited and how their consequences can be mitigated. The management will examine the proposals received on an ongoing basis and make a final decision at the end of November on "whether and to what extent" the measures will be implemented.

Where possible, job cuts should also be made through natural fluctuation, expiring fixed-term contracts and (early) retirements, Postfinance assures. Where layoffs would occur, a "well-developed social plan worked out with the social partners" would be applied.

New digital jobs

The approximately 80 new jobs will be created primarily in the new digital business and the platform business, where it says it will need "additional staff with a wide range of skills."

As already reported in various media, Postfinance is planning to launch a new digital bank under its own brand next year. Credit Suisse, for example, recently launched such an offering.

In the platform business, Postfinance intends to further develop its current mortgage brokerage platform Valuu. In the future, Valuu is to become an independent "comparison and conclusion platform" in the areas of insurance and retirement planning as well.

Unions with sharp criticism

The Syndicom trade union calls the planned cutbacks at Postfinance a "questionable strategy at the expense of staff". The strategy of the Swiss Post subsidiary remains "vague", it said in a statement. The workforce has also been resentful of the constant reforms for some time, not least because of the "flood of external consultants, who in turn devour vast sums of money".

The union is calling on Postfinance management to take flanking measures for the project that take employees' concerns seriously and include them in the restructuring process.

The Transfair trade union is also critical of Postfinance's plans. It is "right and important" that Postfinance wants to reposition itself, says a Transfair statement. However, the announced reduction of 130 full-time positions and the more than 250 contract adjustments are to be criticized "in the strongest terms". The union also assumes that Postfinance will not only cut staff, but also pull other levers such as fee increases, process optimization and the accelerated digitalization of payment transactions. (SDA)