In 2024, British bankers faced significant job cuts as UK lenders experienced the sharpest decline in staff numbers since 2018, driven by a sector-wide digital transformation.
The total workforce at British banks fell by 5.25 per cent to 580,371, marking the lowest figure in ten years, as reported by City AM.
Standard Chartered and HSBC led the way with the largest reductions, at 4.5 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively.
HSBC’s chief, Georges Elhedery, has acted swiftly to reduce costs across the board, including a substantial decrease in investment bankers. As of December 2024, the bank had a global workforce of 211,304, with 34,700 based in the UK alone.
Earlier this month, City AM reported that Lloyds was reviewing thousands of jobs as part of a strategy to strengthen its engineering teams and modernise its digital banking services.
William Howlett, a financial analyst at Quilter Cheviot, told City AM that the cost-cutting trend among lenders reflected the competitive pressures brought about by the emergence of challenger banks, which often have superior technology and no branch overheads.
He said: “As a counterweight to cost cuts, banks continue to invest in tech and AI with the aim of streamlining and modernising technology through enhanced code development, improving and personalising customer experiences, improving risk management and fraud detection.”
British banks snubbed on world ranking
The number of employees in British banks has seen a decline, as UK banks failed to secure a spot in the top ten of a global ranking that measures the financial strength of the world’s banks for the second consecutive year, according to research by The Banker.
No UK lender managed to make it into the top ten of The Banker’s Top 1000 World Banks, which evaluates firms based on their Tier 1 Capital – a key funding source that indicates a bank’s financial health.
Tier 1 capital is considered a stable and reliable form of bank capital, primarily comprising common stock and retained earnings, and often acts as a buffer to absorb losses and safeguard depositors during times of financial stress.
Among the UK banks, HSBC topped the list with $144bn, though this remained largely unchanged from the previous year. Barclays and Lloyds followed in second and third place with $75bn and $47bn respectively.
The total number of banks on the global ranking has decreased to 22 from 26, following a series of takeovers over the past year, including Nationwide’s acquisition of Virgin Money and Barclays’ purchase of Tesco Bank.
Despite being Europe’s largest lender, HSBC narrowly missed out on a top ten position, ranking 11th.
The top ten was dominated by banks from the US and China, with the latter securing the top four positions as China-based KBC took first place.
These findings come as companies focus on technological advancements and close their branch networks to reduce costs.
In the UK, over 370 branch closures are scheduled for the upcoming year, contributing to a decrease in headcount, with Halifax and Santander topping the list at 99 and 95 respectively, as per data from Which?
