Alfa Bank, Sovcombank, MTS Bank, VTB, Gazprombank increase their staff

Large banks in Russia plan to increase their staff this year. The expansion of personnel is due not only to the need for front office specialists in the context of growing business volumes, but also to the continuing interest in IT and qualified personnel in the development of new payment products. All this will lead to an increase in banks’ expenses on remuneration and will encourage them to improve their motivation programs.

According to a Kommersant survey, a number of large banks plan to increase their staff numbers by 7–20% in 2024. Among such banks are both private (Alfa Bank, Sovcombank, MTS Bank) and state-owned (VTB, Gazprombank). Thus, VTB “plans a significant increase” in employees (by more than 20%), which is due to integration with FC Otkritie Bank and the expansion of staff in the retail business in accordance with the strategy for 2024–2026. Sovcombank plans to increase its headcount by 10%; the bank intends to primarily develop the IT area and the contact center. MTS Bank is also interested in finding IT specialists, retail risk specialists, product designers, system analysts and information security specialists.

Last year, large banks also increased their staff numbers. In particular, the Rosbank team increased by 7%, MTS Bank – by 10%, Sovcombank – by 15%. The main areas of growth were small and corporate businesses, as well as IT, said Rosbank top manager Yulia Shcherbinina. At Alfa Bank in 2023, the number of personnel “significantly” increased, “especially due to mass specialties (call center operators, sales managers) and IT,” noted HR Director of the bank Marat Ismagulov. In 2023, the number of Gazprombank increased mainly due to the increase in the number of retail business clients, as well as for the tasks of import substitution of the automated systems and information security used in the bank.

Sberbank did not respond to Kommersant’s request. However, at the end of January, the bank disclosed information that over 12 thousand new employees had joined it. However, it is possible that this was a replacement for other specialists. Thus, in previous years, the number of employees of the largest bank decreased: in 2019 it was 240.7 thousand. people, then at the beginning of 2023 – only 210.7 thousand people. At the same time, the bank hired 33–47 thousand new employees annually.

The growth in the number of personnel in large credit institutions is confirmed by data from recruiting companies. In 2023, banks posted 305 thousand vacancies on the hh.ru portal, which is 37% higher than the figure for 2022, HeadHunter said. At the same time, by the end of January 2024, banks published over 55 thousand vacancies, which is three times more than in January 2023 in HeadHunter. According to SuperJob, in January 2024, vacancies in the banking industry increased by 19% in annual terms. The most in-demand specialists in banks at the beginning of 2024 are customer service managers (almost 15 thousand vacancies), call center operators (7.3 thousand), and credit specialists (3.3 thousand).

This year, almost all large banks have hiring plans, notes the head of the board of directors of TopContact, Artur Shamilov. The greatest demand is in the field of digitalization in a broad sense (software developers, specialists in big data and AI, digital payment platforms, etc.), the most competitive segments of the banking business (retail and small businesses), as well as in the field of transaction and payment business, he lists. In addition, banks are actively developing cross-border payments, this increases the demand for relevant specialists in the Russian Federation and “friendly” countries, notes Mr. Shamilov. The growth of the staff, according to his assessment, will be determined by the planned growth of the network of branches (see “Kommersant” dated December 7, 2023).

The head of the department for work with financial institutions B1 Gennady Shinin notes that this year the competition of banks is intensifying, including with companies from the IT, retail, and telecom sectors. “This year, banks will try to increase employee interest with both material and non-material incentives, including by improving their motivation programs,” he believes.

Olga Sherunkova