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Survey shows banks employed 300 more junior cadre staff in Jan

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A banking hall. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Banks hired about 300 junior employees in January, marking the first growth in their payrolls since they started retrenching staff in 2016 to contain rising costs, fresh industry data shows.

A survey released on Friday by the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) showed the lenders’ non-management staff stood at about 11,300 at the beginning of the year from about 11,000 at the end of 2017, signalling a reverse from a steady downward trend since ceilings on loan charges were enforced in September 2016.

The junior staff count was, however, nearly 1,350 less than 12,650 in January 2017.

New hiring of junior cadres in banking halls came at the expense of management staff who dropped by about 55 in January compared with a month earlier.

Management staff were about 5,605 in January from about 5,810 a year earlier, meaning about 200 left banking halls in that period.

Overall, the industry had about 16,905 staff compared with 18,455 at the beginning of 2017, meaning more than 1,500 had been struck off payrolls of banks. “While banks had in the past taken up efficiency initiatives, enabled by technology, the controlled (interest rate) environment has accelerated the digitisation trend and made staff and branch rationalisation more compelling,” KBA said in a statement.

KBA latest survey on effects of the ceilings on loan charges showed on Friday loan accounts fell by nearly 1.23 million last year compared with 2016, with average loan size rising to Sh748, 579 from Sh508,95.

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