Kenya’s top four banks last year made 6,058 new hires despite fears that increased digitisation in the sector would trigger job losses in an economy struggling with high unemployment.
Equity Group, KCB Group, Co-operative Bank of Kenya and NCBA Group reported a 36 percent jump in new hires last year compared to 2024, resulting in their total headcount rising to 35,114 from 33,305 a year earlier.
The additional staff represented hiring for expansion as well as the replacement of those who exited for various reasons, including retirement, sackings and resignations.
Notably, the impact of the new hires was watered down by the exit of 4,107 persons from the banks’ payroll, signalling a high turnover.
Banks have been riding on digitisation to cut costs, with payroll being one of the cited expenses that has been declining, with over 90 percent of transactions conducted through digital platforms.
“There has been a realisation in the banking sector, and generally in human resource management, that automation doesn’t work well alone; there is a need for human intervention, particularly in customer service,” said Dr Ben Chumo, the chairman of Eagle HR Consultants.
The new hires will give hope to fresh graduates with ambitions of working in the banking sector, whose shift to digital banking has seen some lenders report annual job cuts.
Standard Chartered Bank Kenya last year saw its workforce dip below the 1,000 mark to 942 following an 11-year downsizing programme attributable to the shift to digital banking.
Hiring surge vs turnover
Equity recorded the largest number of new employees as well as the highest turnover as it moved to fill gaps left by departures in a year when the lender fired staff following an ethics audit.
The bank hired 3,198 new employees last year, a figure that rivals the number employed by most mid-sized banks in the country. For example, I&M Group, with operations in five countries, has 3,601 employees.
Despite the surge in hiring, Equity’s total workforce grew by only 287 to 13,370, signalling massive departures.
The numbers indicate the bank parted ways with 2,911 employees during a year when its top management disclosed that it fired about 2,000 staff members who could not offer a satisfactory explanation for money received from clients.
The lender had issued show-cause letters to thousands of staff early last year due to suspicious transactions with customers, either through their bank accounts or mobile money platforms.
Equity did not give a breakdown of the number of employees in each of its subsidiaries, but it disclosed that it had 6,929 Kenyans on its payroll, followed by 3,293 Congolese. Uganda has the third-highest number of employees in the group with 1,348, followed by Rwanda (1,020) and Tanzania (570).
“In 2025, Equity undertook a board-led behaviour and culture audit, a deliberate and rigorous process that reinforced the group’s commitment to integrity and accountability as non-negotiable alongside performance,” said the firm in its latest annual report.
Equity last year adopted a policy dubbed Shared Prosperity, pledging to pay its staff 15 percent of its revenue less expenses.
The Shared Prosperity policy was meant to ensure that staff salaries grow in tandem with the bank's performance.
The high exit rate and quick replacements indicate the large pool of unemployed talent available in the job market, which enables fast recruitment without heavy training expenses.
“The Kenyan market is an employer’s market and the banking sector could not run short of talent because universities are offering specialised courses, churning out market-ready graduates,” said Mr Chumo.
“In an employer’s market, the employer does not have a responsibility to develop employees. If they need specialised talent, it is available in the streets,” he added.
Employer’s market
KCB, with operations in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi, had the second-highest number of employees at 12,090, up from 11,252 a year earlier.
The group employed 1,491 new workers last year, which saw its staff numbers rise in a year when it sold National Bank of Kenya (NBK) to Nigerian lender Access Group, which took the staff associated with NBK.
KCB recorded 511 exits during the year, down from the 951 exits reported in 2024.
Co-op Bank, which reported the lowest attrition rate of 5.2 percent among the top four lenders, was the only one among the four to report a drop in new hires. The bank hired 774 new employees last year compared to 1,104 hires in 2024.
NCBA hired 595 new staff, pushing its staff numbers to 3,419 and reporting a staff retention rate of 91 percent.
Family Bank, a mid-sized lender, also disclosed the number of its new hires, which stood at 326 compared to 164 exits.
Flexible staffing
Human resource practitioners disclosed that banks were now adopting flexible contracts, which gave employees whose responsibilities were viewed as non-core to the lenders contractual terms allowing for easier separation in the event of termination.
“Banks are now having a circular structure where employees on short-term contracts are on the outer part and the core staff at the centre. So, if the market behaves badly, it's easier to let go of those on the outer ring,” said Mr Chumo.
Absa Bank Kenya, whose staff numbers grew by 50 last year to 2,217, released 82 employees early this year under a voluntary early retirement programme, which cost it Sh717 million, underscoring the high cost of parting ways with permanent and pensionable workers.
