After almost two years of crisis, the terms "redundancy" and"restructuring" do not exist for the banking industry, but only forits clients, with banks avoiding to significantly scale down theirbranch networks and headcount.
The 42 banks on the market in the first half racked up losses ofabove 50m euros, but bankers are shying away from axingadministrative expenses unlike other private companies: just 3% ofemployees have left the system in the past year, while the numberof branches has dropped by 265, namely by 4%.
In mid-2010, the banking system employed 67,151 people, around2,000 fewer than in June 2009. Bankers insist that personnelcutbacks applied so far have been largely "natural" ones.
For the second half of the year, bankers anticipate risinguncertainty and an ever steeper loan demand slump. None of them isforeseeing any restructuring steps in the banking system,though.
On the contrary, the overall rhetoric is "we're closing somebranches, but we'll try to open others, depending onopportunities".
Also, bankers are still the highest-paid employees, given thatdespite monthly fluctuations the average net salary is not goingbelow the 3,000 RON/month threshold with few exceptions.
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
