Tens of thousands of jobs go as China’s biggest banks cut costs

SHANGHAI (Sept 7): China’s four biggest banks reported that staff numbers fell by the most in at least six years in the first half, highlighting the possibility that employment has peaked at the firms that are the world’s biggest providers of banking jobs.

A decline of 1.5% from the end of last year left 1.62 million workers at Agricultural Bank of China, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank Corp. and Bank of China, earnings filings showed. Agricultural Bank, the No. 1 bank employer, saw its number of employees slip below half a million.

While a fall in the first half is not unusual, the 25,000-job decline is the biggest since at least 2010 and analysts at firms including BOC International Holdings and DBS Vickers Hong Kong say changes to how banking is done will limit prospects for increases.

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