Banks’ Staff Decreased by 2.81% in Q3, 2019

• Banks’ Staff Decreased by 2.81% in Q3, 2019

The total number of banks’ staff has started decreasing following the number of changes made by the Central Bank of Nigeria to cap banks’ appetite for investment in the fixed income market and compel them to increase credit provision to the private sector through the 65 percent loan-to-deposit ratio directive.

The total number of staff in the banking sector declined by 2.81 percent or 2,929 to 101,435 in the third quarter, down from 104,364 recorded in the second quarter of the year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported.

On a yearly basis, the total staff in the sector declined by 1.35 percent from 102,821 in the corresponding period of 2018 to 101,435 in the third quarter of 2019.

A further breakdown of the report shows the total number of executive staff in the banking sector declined by 12.68 percent from 213 in the third quarter of 2018 to 186 in the third quarter of 2019.

Similarly, the number of senior staff within the bank system decreased by 0.33 percent from 17,729 to 17,671 while junior staff grew by 0.01 percent point from 40,395 to 40,398 in the third quarter. Suggesting that banks are likely cutting executive and senior staff due to cost to focus on junior staff.

The total number of contract staff, usually without pension or any retirement benefits, declined by 2.93 percent from 44,484 in the third quarter of 2018 to 43,180 in the third quarter of 2019.

Deposit Money Banks continue to take advantage of the high unemployment rate in the country by maintaining high number of staff without any form of benefit despite declaring billions in profit every quarter.

The President of the United Labour Congress, Joseph Ajaero, had said employers in sectors without a strong union are taking contract staff without pension protection.

He said, “those jobs did not have any form of protection and it was more prevalent in sectors without strong unions that would challenge the system.”

This, according to him, is one of the reasons a lot of people retirees do not have the required amount of 550,000 in their Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs).

“The commission granted approval for the payment of the entire RSA balances of the categories of retirees whose RSA balances were N550,000 or below and considered insufficient to procure a programmed withdrawal or annuity of a reasonable amount over an expected lifespan,” stated PenCom.

PenCom said it has paid N27.09 billion since inception to retirees since inception.

“Consequently, 109,284 retirees received en-bloc payments totalling N27.09bn from inception to the end of the second quarter of 2019.”