KCB Group, Co-operative Bank of Kenya and NCBA Group added 1,229 jobs in the six months ended June as they opened new branches and tapped new skill sets to fit the changing landscape of banking.
The new jobs bucked the prevailing trend of layoffs and freeze on hiring that has been seen in many firms in other sectors of the economy as earnings fall and the cost of doing business rises partly on new or enhanced State deductions.
Read: Kenya bank jobs increase to seven-year high
KCB added 779 jobs to close June with 11,877 workers as it opened two new branches and strengthened its IT department.
Co-operative Bank, which added seven branches — Kimana, Matuu, Thika Kwame Nkrumah, Greenwood Mall (Meru), Kenol Makuyu, Hindi (Lamu) and Bamburi (Mombasa) — to close June with a network of 191 branches, hired 245 more employees to hit a headcount of 5,109.
Another tier I lender, NCBA, discloses that it added 205 jobs in the review period as its branch network expanded by four to hit 107.
The growth in branch count has been despite the increasing preference for digital transactions among customers.
Banks have been opening branches that are slightly smaller than the traditional ones and using them more for advisory services.
Continued urbanisation has seen some locations change from largely residential to commercial hubs, making them attractive to banks and other businesses.
The lenders have also been seeking new skill sets from fields such as data science even as they increased the adoption of technologies, including robotics, artificial intelligence and data analytics.
“KCB Kenya has, for example, been hiring IT resources. We have brought in close to 250 IT specialists to support Kenya and the group,” said Paul Russo, KCB chief executive on the lender’s increased headcount.
Mr Russo said in February KCB would open 12 new branches in Kenya and Tanzania this year in a move that promises to increase staff numbers.
The fresh hiring, added to the annual salary increment, has seen the staff costs of these lenders rise, with that of KCB growing 24 percent to Sh17.5 billion in the half-year period.
Co-op staff costs rose from Sh7.1 billion to Sh8 billion in the review period while that of NCBA hit Sh5.97 billion, being a 28.7 percent rise from Sh4.64 billion.
Equity Group, which last year added 538 employees to its payroll, has not made public its latest headcount but its staff costs rose 32 percent to Sh14.23 billion in the half-year.
Read: Co-op adds 520 jobs on local branch expansion
Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) perception survey for July showed 29 percent of banks will “definitely” add jobs this year while 42 percent said they “probably” will.
The CBK data shows jobs in the banking sector rose to a seven-year high of 36,107 in 2022 as banks added 3,667 new staff. BY BUSINESS DAILY
