Contract staff in the banking industry decreased to 7,321 employees, while executive staff strength rose by 14.6 per cent year-on-year to 204 in the second quarter of 2020, compared to Q2 2019.
According to data obtained from the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics, headcount for all other cadre of employees in the sector shrank, including for senior staff, by -1.81 per cent and junior staff down by 5.62 per cent.
Similarly, the banks also effected 9,866 job cuts in the past year, as the outlook for the economy weakened and automation gained steam.
Non full-time staff bore the brunt of the job losses compared to the same period a year ago.
Nigerian lenders are facing a tighter regulatory environment, lower interest rates and much weaker economy that have eaten into their profits over the year.
Total staff strength in the banking sector stood at 94,498 in Q2 2020 down 9.45 per cent from Q2 2019 level of 104,364.
Some banks shed staff faster than the average rate for the period however. Access Bank staff strength fell by 10.25 per cent to 6,617 in June 2020, from 7,373 in June 2019, its latest financials show.
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 to contain the Coronavirus Disease.
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.
Nigerian banks shed jobs even as the Gross Domestic Product of the financial services sector expanded by 28.4 per cent in Q2 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.
