As banks increased salaries to alleviate the effect of high living standards on their staff, about 10 banks in Nigeria spent N589.88 billion on personnel costs in the first nine months of 2023, representing a 33.2% increase from the N442.97 billion reported in the first nine months of last year....CONTINUE READING
Access Holdings Pls, Zenith Bank, UBA, Guaranty Trust Bank, and First Bank are the banks.
Top Nigerian banks with increases in staff salaries
Others include Fidelity Bank, Wema Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Sterling Financial Holdings, and Unity Bank.
The personnel costs comprise wages and salaries, pension contributions, and other staff costs.
Many banks increased their staff salaries to cushion the effect of subsidy removal.
The Nigerian government embarked on reforms in the petroleum and foreign exchange markets, removing subsidies from petrol and unifying the Forex markets.
Banks give reasons for spending heavily on personnel costs
Analysts believe the reforms negatively impacted many Nigerians’ living standards, eroding their incomes and livelihoods.
The petrol subsidy removal meant that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) announced a new price for the product.
In September 2023, the inflation rate hit 26.72% from 20.77% recorded in the same period in 2022 by the National Bureau of Statistics.
According to a ThisDay report, the banks reported higher personnel costs in the first nine months compared to the first nine months of 2022.
A breakdown of the top five banks indicates that Access Bank spent about N11.6 billion on personnel costs in nine months of this year, 31% more than its expenses in the same period last year.
Zenith Bank spent N88.43 billion in nine months of this year on its staff from the N61.46 billion it spent in the same period of 2022, while UBA said it spent N111.11 billion paying salaries and other personal costs in the nine months of 2022, a 38% rise from the N80,77 billion reported in the nine months of 2022.
Others are First Bank: 113.19 billion
GTBank: N37.58 billion
Wema Bank, Zenith, UBA, and Guaranty Trust Bank announced increased staff salaries earlier in the year.
Banks with salary increases in 2023
Zenith Bank, earlier in the year, announced the implementation of a company-wide increase in salaries of regular and contract staff to cushion the effect of the economy.
Also, GTBank announced that it increased the salaries of junior and contract staff, alleviating inflationary pressures.
In the same vein, the management of GTCO said it increased the salaries of its junior and contract staff in line with rising inflation.
The bank said the raise took effect from July 2023. Oliver Alawuba, UBA’s CEO, said in a statement that the bank’s board of directors announced the implementation of a cost of living adjustment for its staff.
