In connection with the difficult macro- and micro-economic situation and with the current trends on the capital markets, the Management Board of the BRE Bank SA has undertaken radical measures leading to permanent reduction of operating costs and to increasing the revenues drawn from the four core business areas of the Bank’s operation.In accordance with the information presented in the Current Report, on July 29 of the current year the notification has been transmitted to the Powiat [District] Labour Office concerning the intention to conduct in the 2nd half of the year 2002 and the 1st quarter of the year 2003 group lay offs involving up to 500 employees.
The estimate savings on the account of group redundancies and the planned changes of the principles of remuneration of staff will amount to approximately PLN 25 million in the year 2003. The costs, which the Bank will incur on the account of the group redundancies will not exceed PLN 6 million in the year 2002. The personnel costs of the Bank in successive years amounted to PLN 204.1 million in 1999, PLN 202.9 million in the year 2000 and PLN 191.6 million in the year 2001.
The reduction of employment will be feasible thanks to the measures, which the Bank has taken over the past period of time and which it plans to implement in the nearest months, and which have or will result in the increase of labour efficiency.The intensive development of the electronic Customer service systems BRESOK and interBRESOK has caused the increase of the volume of banking operations executed by using the electronic media. The BRE Bank’s internet portal combining the functions of information service with the continuously developed transaction handling part, contains modules enabling the subscription of many documents and the electronic execution of information functions. It is planned to implement a technological platform, which will enable the exchange of date between any information technology systems. This will have a bearing on improving the efficiency of labour and complex knowledge management in the organization. At the turn of the years 2001/2002 the BRE Bank has implemented the BuySite system, which enables purchasing by electronic means. This has caused substantial automation of that process. Thanks to the Sonar system credit risk assessment loan portfolio management have been made more efficient. The new version of the intranet portal at the Bank continues to be developed. This allows to increase the effectiveness of processes through the automation and standardisation of the respective activities. The change of the organisation of the sales forces of the Bank, started in the year 2001 and still continued, and also the formation in the year 2002 of the Marketing and Electronic Distribution Channels Department, enable to eliminate the repetition of tasks and the centralisation of operations.The reduction of employment, which the BRE Bank is planning, will not have any bearing upon the contacts with Clients, nor will it cause any changes in the relations between the Clients and the staff of the Bank.As part of the programme of cutting material expenses, the Bank is conducting intensive works and analytical reviews enabling the outsourcing of some of the activities, the implementation of wide ranging measures to reduce the material costs linked to personnel costs and of improving the efficiency of the conduct of the processes exerting an indirect impact upon the generation of costs.As a result of the analysis of the business processes occurring in the four core business areas of the Bank: corporate banking, investment banking, asset management and retail banking, the Bank has prepared plans for solutions that are feasible for implementation, with the purpose to increase the effectiveness of those process. Thanks to the planned implementation of the new business solutions the Bank expects an increase of interest on the part of the Clients in making more comprehensive use of the offered range of banking services.The effects of all these activities should become visible already in the year 2002 and they should substantially contribute to the shaping of the financial result of the Bank in the year 2003.