Seven commercial banks in the country, Stanbic IBTC, First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Fidelity Bank Plc, Sterling Bank, Wema Bank, Unity Bank and Jaiz Bank, spent over N173.99bn on the salaries and wages of their staff in 12 months.
The figure was obtained from the full-year results of the banks ending December 31, 2022 submitted to the Nigerian exchange.
This amount is 19.21 percent or N28.05 billion higher than the N145.95 billion that the banks spent on personnel in 2021.
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The breakdown shows that N50.99 billion, the amount Stanbic IBTC spent on personnel costs in 2022 is 21.30 percent higher than the N42.04 billion it reported for the preceding year.
Also, FCMB’s personnel expenses increased to N35.71 billion last year from N31.26 billion in 2021.
Similarly, Fidelity Bank’s personnel expenses rose to N29.73 billion in 2022 from N23.47 billion in the preceding year.
Wema Bank’s personnel costs also moved upward last year, rising to N21.32 billion from N16.68 billion in 2021.
Sterling Bank’s unaudited financial statements for 2022 indicate that personnel expenses increased to N16.95 billion from N14.92 billion in the preceding year.
At N11.19 billion, Unity Bank’s personnel costs increased by 6 percent last year compared with N10.54 billion in 2021.
Leading non-interest bank, Jaiz Bank’s unaudited financial results for 2022, show that personnel costs rose to N8.10 billion from N7.40 billion in the