Zenith, Sterling, other banks that increased staff salaries to avoid attrition

• The banking sector is constantly concerned with staff retention
• To achieve this, financial institutions often raise staff salaries along with other fringe benefits
• From Zenith to Sterling Bank, TheRadar highlights banks that recently increased staff salaries and the percentages

The issue of staff retention is of importance to the banking sector given that the workforce is critical to its operations.

To guarantee the loyalty and motivation of staff members in an industry prone to poaching, financial institutions often ensure a competitive salary alongside incentives for employees.

In the absence of these, staff members may be forced to bid farewells, job-hopping and negotiating better pay and other string benefits while at it, armed with higher skills garnered from years, or even months, of working with their previous place of employment.

This is one of the reasons banks often upwardly review the salaries of their staff to be at par or better than the competition.

In recent months, many banks have increased the salaries of their staff in the face of rising inflation and other economic challenges. These increases are not without a bumped-up wage bill.

From Zenith, Sterling, and Guaranty Trust Bank, TheRadar highlights banks that increased staff salaries in recent months.

Banks that recently increased staff salaries

1. Zenith Bank increased staff salary by 20 per cent

In January 2025, Zenith Bank announced a company-wide increment in the salaries of its nearly 10,000 staff by 20 to 30 per cent, in keeping with industry trends and to retain top talents.

The Tier-1 bank said the increment is effective from January 2025, even as it promoted over 4,000 staff in the same month.

In an email to TechCabal, the company said, “In order to continue to motivate its staff and improve service delivery, Zenith Bank implemented a salary increment of between 20 per cent and 30 per cent involving all staff effective January 2025.

“The bank also promoted well over 4,000 staff on January 17, 2025. This exercise, which is still ongoing, has been described as one that involves the highest number of staff in one promotion in the industry.”

With the increment, the monthly salary of the bank’s executive trainees (ETs) will move from N245,000 to N294,000; assistant banking officers’ (ABOs) will increase from N609,000 to N730,800 and banking officers (BOs) salaries will move from N800,000 to N960,000.

2. Sterling Bank increased salaries by 7 per cent

The salaries of the over 3,000 staff of Sterling Bank were increased by seven per cent in early January 2025.

The tier-2 commercial bank said in an internal memo that the salary raise was to help employees cope with living costs triggered by heightened inflationary pressures.

The bank introduced a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) stipend of N75,000 in August 2024 to employees from executive trainee to assistant banking officer levels.

With the new salary structure, it is unknown if the COLA stipend will continue alongside.

The salary adjustments are said to be based on employees’ grade levels, as the bank operates a banding system that provides for between seven and 10 per cent increments within each grade.

Going by this, Sterling Bank’s executive trainees (ETs) will now earn N351,000 monthly from a previous pay of N327,000. For senior executives (junior roles above ETs), their salaries will increase to N527,000 from N500,000 monthly.

3. GTBank quietly raised staff salaries by 40 per cent

In September 2024, tier-1 bank, Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB) raised the salaries of its 3,300 staff members, albeit, quietly, in response to the cost of living crisis.

The salary raise means that an ABO, which is just one level above entry-level staff in GTBank’s employee structure with fewer staff levels than other tier-1 banks, now earns N720,000.

4. Union raised salaries by 40 per cent

Union Bank also raised the salaries of its over 2,000 employees by 40 per cent in November 2024.

According to an internal memo, the salary raise took effect on November 1, 2024, adding that the staff will receive the arrears for November along with their salaries for December 2024.

It also stated that the salary increase applies to all employees, ranging from executive trainees to general managers, and outsourced associates.

With the increase, the bank’s ETs, who previously earned N260,000 monthly, will see their salaries rise to N364,000, while senior banking officers (SBOs) will have their gross annual salaries increase to N20 million, according to the bank’s salary structure.

2024 wrapped: 5 events that shaped Nigeria’s banking sector

Meanwhile, TheRadar earlier reported that the Nigerian banking sector witnessed many events in 2024, which defined the year.

TheRadar highlighted five of them, including the revocation of Heritage Bank’s licence, bank system upgrades, and banks’ rapid expansion.