Bank employees worst hit in last quarter of 2016

By Odunewu Segun

The total number of staff in Nigerian banks dropped from 82,540 in the third quarter to 76,812 in December 2016, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has said.

According to a report titled “Selected Banking Sector Data”, at the weekend on by the Bureau, the total number of staff in Nigerian banks for the first and second quarters of 2016 was estimated at 81,122 and 78,563 respectively.

In the third quarter, the report stated that the figure rose to 82,250, but dropped to 76,812 in the fourth quarter of the year under review.

The report, which focused on executive, senior, junior and contract staff, covers staff of non-interest, commercial and merchant banks operating in the country.

It however noted that contract staff were not included in the total bank staff as in the case of commercial and merchant banks.

In the third quarter, the total number of executive staff in commercial and non-interest banks stood at 171 but dropped to 163 in the fourth quarter.

Ditto the number of senior, junior and contract staff which stood at 21,167, 37,644 and 23,191 in the third quarter but dropped to 20,358, 35,062 and 21,215 respectively in the fourth quarter.

Further analysis of the data on Electronic Payment Channels in the Nigeria Banking Sector revealed that a total volume of 910,186,115 transactions valued at N65.16 trillion were recorded in 2016.

ATM transactions dominated the volume of transactions as 590,238,934

Volume of transactions valued at N4.98 trillion were recorded in the year under review.

In terms of credit to private sector, a total of N59.56 trillion worth of credit was allocated by banks in 2016.

Services and Industry got credit allocation of N23.07 trillion and N22.85 trillion, respectively, to record the highest credit allocations in the year under review.