It pains me that my former employer, DTB has finally gone to the media but for the wrong reasons. The bank with a brand name, the bank that was the envy of her competitors is being brought down on its knees. I foresaw this coming, but I thought someone would do something positive somewhere.
But come to think of it; why wouldn’t it happen when there is no leadership in the Risk & Compliance department. While I was working at DTB, madam MD I hope you are reading this, I observed crazy things happening in compliance. We always pitied the staff who work there.
How do you expect staff to perform well with the kind of arrogance depicted by her Majesty the Queen, Hilda who does not respect her staff?
Operations in a given day will run depending on how she has woken up and her mood. Hilda cannot be approached by her staff because she is EVER shouting, not privately but publicly. She has used her position to frustrate the team that has enabled her to gain the position of GM.
Her unit heads cannot make decisions and cannot advise her on the contrary to her thinking, otherwise, she will term it as insubordination in the hearing of all her staff. Hilda is feared even by other GMs. That is very sad! She cannot be opposed or given a different opinion.
Madam MD I also learnt that there are no clear guidelines on how things are done, because Hilda keeps changing guidelines without discussing with her staff or even communicating them to her staff. What do you expect? No one knows what is expected.
Today things are done like this. Tomorrow things have changed just because Hilda thinks she should change. In a bank? Don’t you have laid down procedures? That is why the department is so confused because its leader is confused.
How do you expect that department to protect the bank from attacks by sealing all loopholes when you have a confused team? Then be ready for more attacks.
When I was there, I can’t remember the day I left office in the evening together with Risk and Compliance staff. We always left them working late until past 10pm, every single day without compensation for the extra hours. Seriously? Don’t your staff get tired? They are not machines. Is the bank unable to employ sufficient workforce? Are you aware of the provisions of the Labor Laws of Kenya 2007? You are just lucky that your staff have not raised it with the courts. You have a very good team. When there are salary increments, R & C have the lowest increments, yet they work for almost 12 hrs every day, this is demotivating your staff.
I also noticed that Hilda panics a lot whenever there are issues. She ends up making the wrong decisions as a result. We could hear her shouting at her staff. A whole GM panicking? How does she expect her juniors to respond?
Hilda’s deputy Wanjiru has no clue what is happening in the bank. How can you have someone acting in the position of deputy GM but is worse than her juniors? And madam MD you expect the department to perform? Ask yourself, why had she been rejected in all other departments she worked in? And then you allowed her into a critical department like R & C as deputy? That is a big mistake.
I left DTB not knowing what her role is.
This is just the beginning madam MD. There could be more serious issues coming if you don’t step in and resolve these ones. You have very hardworking staff in Risk and Compliance, the backbone of the bank, but they lack leadership.
Get your ears on the ground and know what is happening. You need to bring back the glory of DTB. I found you to be a great person with the muscle to make DTB the best bank. I am hoping to see DTB in the media again but for the right reasons as you gain the confidence of your customers.
I am comfortable reporting this now after several years because I am out here. I couldn’t say a thing while in DTB because I would risk being sacked.
You don’t protect whistleblowers. If you did there’s so much you could have been informed about generally across the bank and I’m sure you could have addressed some of these issues. Your staff do not want to risk their jobs. Please take note of that.
My prayer is that you do not get hit again.