Six listed deposit money banks (DMBs) spent a total of N809.83 billion as personnel expenses last year, according to the lenders’ audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2024.
This amount is 62.79 per cent, or N312.38 billion, higher than the N497.46 billion that the banks spent as staff costs in 2023.
The banks are Zenith Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Fidelity Bank Plc and Wema Bank. Nigerian banks’ personnel expenses comprise wages and salaries, pension contributions, and other staff costs.
New Telegraph’s analysis of the DMBs’ audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2024, indicates that UBA Group’s staff costs(employee benefits expenses) increased by 72.12 per cent, or N131.85 billion, to N314.66 billion in 2024 from N182.81 billion in the previous year.
Also, Zenith Bank’s personnel expenses rose by 64.10 per cent, or N79.56 billion, to N204.17 billion last year from N124.42 billion in 2023.
Similarly, GTCO’s staff costs were up by 89.36 per cent, or N40.30 billion, to N85.40 billion in 2024 from N45.10 billion in the previous year. Leading Tier 2 lender, Stanbic IBTC’s personnel expenses rose by 31.81 per cent, or N20.92 billion, to N86.68 billion last year from N65.76 billion in 2023.
For Fidelity Bank, its audited financial statements show that personnel expenses increased by 39.59 per cent, or N20.83 billion, to N73.45 billion in 2024 from N52.62 billion in the preceding year.
According to Wema Bank’s audited financial statements, the Tier 2 lender’s personnel expenses surged by 69.97 percent, or N18.72 billion, to N45.48 billion last year from N26.76 billion in 2023.
Analysts note that despite their increased adoption of digital technology and closure of unprofitable branches, as well as the rising number of employees leaving the country for greener pastures abroad, banks’ personnel expenses have surged in the last few years.
Indeed, according to a report published by the research team at Nairametrics in May last year, ten of the highest paying commercial banks in the country spent N799.8 billion on staff salaries in 2023, a 44.3per cent increase from the previous year’s N554.2 billion, despite their staff strength rising by only 5.1 percent to 56,226 employees.
A breakdown of the report indicates that the lenders incurred N919.1 billion as personnel expenses in 2023, an increase of 46.6 per cent compared with N627.1 billion in the previous year.
This means that the banks allocated an average of 87 per cent of their personnel expenses to staff salaries, leaving the remaining 13 per cent to other employee benefits, such as pension contribution plans.
The report attributed the surge in personnel expenses to the upward review of staff salaries implemented by several banks in response to the inflationary pressures triggered by the Federal Government’s removal of the subsidy on petrol on May 29, 2023 and the devaluation of the naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in June of the same year.
New Telegraph reports that in January this year, Zenith Bank announced the promotion of over 4,000 staff members and implementation of salary increases ranging from 20 per cent to 30 per cent across various employee grades.
According to a statement, the initiative, “under the leadership of Managing Director/CEO, Adaora Umeoji, is aimed at boosting staff morale and productivity.”
