-Report … as total staff strength fell by 9.45% in Q2 2020
Ngozi Amuche
As the micro-economic conditions in Nigeria continue on a negative trajectory, commercial banks in the country have effected 9,866 job cuts in the past one year, 1stnewsonline.com can report.
The development is just as the sector recorded 9.45 per cent decline in total staff strength, as the number of their employees plummeted to 94,498 in the second quarter of 2020, from 104,364 in 2019.
The banks effected the job cuts as the outlook for the economy weakened and automation gained steam.
According to data obtained by 1stnewsonline.com from the Nigeria Bureau of statistics, some banks shed staff faster than the average rate for the period.
Access Bank’s staff strength, for instance, fell by 10.25 percent to 6,617 in June 2020 from 7,373 in June 2019, data from its latest financials have shown.
The bank, which is one of Nigeria’s biggest by assets, had said it planned to cut salaries to avoid job losses as a result of the lockdown imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
The bottom-line for job seekers in the banking sector is that contract staff with low end skills like tellers, are being disposed of while people with more advanced skills for middle management roles are in slight demand.
Non-full time staff bore the brunt of the job losses with contract staff strength 15.8 percent lower in the second quarter (Q2) of 2020, compared with the same period a year ago, analysis of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) latest banking sector report shows.
Specifically, Nigerian lenders are facing a tighter regulatory environment, lower interest rates and much weaker economy that have eaten into their profits over the year.
But while banks shed contract staff to the tune of 7,321 employees, executive staff strength rose 14.6 percent year on year to 204, in Q2, 2020, compared to the Q2, 2019 period.
Headcount for all other cadre of employees in the banking sector shrank, including for senior staff down -1.81 percent in a year and junior staff down 5.62 percent.
Nigerian banks shed jobs even as the financial services sector GDP expanded by +28.4 percent in the second quarter of 2020, a signal that lenders are looking to rein in costs and expand the use of technology to serve workers in place of brick and mortar branches that are often major cost centres.