The four major banks laid off more than 20,000 employees in the first half of the year, the three major banks closed 210 branches, and ICBC recovered slightly

For some friends born in the 90s, 80s and older people, they must have gone to the bank to handle business or went to the bank with their parents. In the past, no matter what kind of business you had to do, you had to go to a bank branch. At that time, the bank had a lot of customers, and you would have to wait in line for half a day, and the bank's window was divided into many businesses.

For example, for cash services, deposits and withdrawals are generally processed faster, while other services require a longer wait. However, with the development of science and technology, artificial intelligence and the Internet began to develop, which facilitated people's lives and also had a certain impact on society.

Take the bank's ATM deposit and withdrawal machine as an example, which makes people's lives more convenient. To deposit or withdraw money, you only need to go to the machine to operate it, saving time. And the operation is relatively simple, even the elderly can learn it once they learn it. This has also led to a reduction in the bank's business volume, causing bank employees to face a crisis of layoffs. How many people were laid off? Where are the future employment directions?

Due to the advent of the Internet and the technology era, many friends are doing business online and going to ATM machines to deposit, withdraw money and transfer services, etc., which has led to a decrease in the number of customers in the bank and thus a decrease in performance. This has resulted in banks having to lay off employees because bank branches no longer need so many employees.

According to data, my country’s four major banks, namely Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China and China Construction Bank, reduced their branches or institutions by a total of 187 in the first half of this year. This reduction is on par with or even exceeds that of last year. Because in 2020, the four major state-owned banks reduced their branches or institutions by a total of 370 throughout the year.

However, the reduction amount of each of the four major banks is different. According to data, as of the end of June 2021, the number of Bank of China branches nationwide was 11,519, and the number in 2020 was 11,550, a total decrease of 31 branches; the number of China Construction Bank branches nationwide was 14,656, and in 2020*** There are 14,741 banks, a total decrease of 85 banks; the Agricultural Bank of China has a total decrease of 94 banks compared with last year, and the number in the first half of 2021 is 22,889 banks.

It can be seen that Agricultural Bank of China has the largest reduction in the number of branches, followed by China Construction Bank, and the smallest reduction is Bank of China. Some friends may ask, what about the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China? The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is an exception, because compared with 2020, the number of ICBC has increased instead of decreasing. The number has increased from 15,800 in 2020 to 15,823, an increase of 23 as of the end of June.

The reason why ICBC has developed relatively well is because ICBC has relatively strong strength and capabilities. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is even known as the "Universal Bank". The origin of this title is mainly derived from the strength of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in all aspects. Such as asset size, world ranking, revenue and profit, etc.

1. Asset scale

The asset scale of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is the largest among my country’s commercial banks. It is not only the largest among my country’s commercial banks, but also the first in the international rankings. One of them is known as the leader of the four major industries in our country. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China not only has branches in various cities in China, but also has branches in foreign countries. In addition, the market value of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is also very high, with a total market value of 1.6 trillion yuan, ranking first in the market value of banks nationwide.

2. World rankings

I believe you must have heard of the Forbes rankings. There is a business evaluation list, which not only refers to the asset size of the company, but also based on transaction performance and public reputation. Wait for ranking.

The companies on the list are relatively strong and large-scale companies. In the 2021 Forbes Global 2000 list, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China ranks first, and the China Construction Bank ranks fourth. This fully demonstrates the strength and capabilities of ICBC.

3. Revenue and profit

The revenue of a company is the reference basis for evaluating the strength of a company. According to data, ICBC's revenue in 2019 exceeded RMB 201.8 billion, and its net profit reached RMB 82 billion. It has a great advantage in the competition among banks. The reason why people are willing to go to ICBC to handle business is because its public credibility and popularity are relatively high, which has further expanded its scale and number of outlets.

But overall, the number of bank branches in my country is gradually decreasing. There are many reasons for this, such as the diversion of electronic channels and the widespread use of ATM deposit and withdrawal machines. Especially during the epidemic, when residents are in isolation or banks process business in batches, citizens have to use electronic products to complete the business they want to complete.

In fact, the reduction in the number of outlets of the four major banks has begun for many years. Especially in 2017 and 2019, the number of outlets of the four major banks decreased the most. Each year, the four major state-owned banks close nearly 800 branches in total. bank branches.

Today, the off-the-counter business rate of state-owned banks has even reached 90%. According to incomplete statistics, in 2020, the number of off-the-counter transactions of banking financial institutions reached 370.872 billion, the total number of off-the-counter transactions reached 2308.36 trillion yuan, and the average electronic channel diversion rate of the banking industry was 90.88. There are many benefits to conducting banking services online, not only for residents but also for banks.

For residents, using electronic products to handle banking services can save time in queuing, and they can be done at home without going out, saving time and effort. For banks, customers can save a lot of steps when handling business online, and it still counts as bank business, which can improve online performance and reduce costs by not having to hire a lot of employees.

Since electronic products and ATMs take away a large part of the bank's performance, the bank's branches are not only getting smaller and smaller, but are even gradually decreasing. Therefore, for bank staff, they have to face layoffs. crisis. Because banks no longer need so many manpower, they can enable bank branches to operate smoothly.

The operation of bank branches is not as simple as imagined. Not only must it be profitable, but also many cost issues must be considered. For example, employees’ salaries, outlets’ water and electricity bills for a year, rent, etc. We have all been to banks, so we all know that bank branches are generally larger and more spacious, so the cost of rent for a year is not a small amount.

Take first-tier cities as an example. If a bank branch is in a good location in a first-tier city, then the annual rent will cost several million. If you want to make a profit, it will need at least 200 to 300 million a year. new deposits, otherwise you will face losses. If you want to control costs, there are two most convenient ways. One is to reduce the area of ??branches, and the other is to reduce the number of employees in bank branches.

According to data, in the first half of 2021, the four major state-owned banks reduced their employees by more than 20,000. But bank staff should not be overly worried, because not all bank staff are facing a "wave of layoffs." The main reduction is the number of tellers in bank branches. For staff in other departments, the risk of facing layoffs is relatively low.

This is because many of the services handled by tellers can be completed online or at ATM machines, and do not require tellers to handle them, which leads to a reduction in the number of windows at bank outlets.

I don’t know if you have personally experienced this change. In the past, there were many windows in bank branches, at least 5 or 6. Now when you go to the bank to handle business, there are only 2 or 3 windows that can handle business, resulting in bank tellers being laid off.

However, people in some positions in the back office of banks will not only not face layoffs, but will not even be able to recruit people. For example, scientific and technological positions, management positions, etc., especially scientific and technological talents. Banks also need technology talents, and the salaries they offer are very high, with a starting salary of about 600,000 yuan, such as architects. But we just can’t recruit people. We can look for bank recruitment information from the recruitment website, and we can see that most of the recruitment positions are for technology talents.

Why is it that even though the salary package offered by the bank is so good, no one is willing to apply for it? This is because architects need to have strong technological capabilities and strong capabilities, and since they work in a bank, they need to understand both technology and finance. It is more difficult for scientific and technological talents, and the wages are still relatively low.

In fact, for technology talents, an annual salary of 600,000 yuan is really not high, because this salary is only a medium salary among Internet companies, and they also need to master financial knowledge. Therefore, many banks recruit technology talents, but they have not found suitable personnel for several months.

Today’s employment is mainly focused on the Internet, because today is the era of technology. With the improvement of the quality of national life, more and more people are beginning to pursue a refined and ultimate life. Moreover, many people have become lazy and like to place orders online whether shopping or buying food. They also like ordering takeout very much, so the Internet will become more and more developed in the future.

For friends without academic qualifications, they are not willing to go to factories and other places to engage in boring jobs, and they are more interested in pursuing free careers. For example, takeaways, couriers, etc., although the time to go to work and get off work is fixed, they can go to many places and interact with all kinds of people during work, so their lives are full of freshness.

The four major state-owned banks have high visibility and credibility among the people. Generally speaking, citizens will deposit their money in these banks. In addition, there are also some local banks. In the past, it took half a day to go to the bank to handle business because the bank had so many customers. But things are different now. Due to the development of technology, customers can handle some business online.

Due to the continuous increase in online business, the number of customers in bank branches has decreased, resulting in relatively low performance of bank branches. In order to maintain operations, they will reduce the area of ??branches and even close some branches. In addition, online Most of the business handled is handled by tellers, so bank tellers are facing a "wave of layoffs."

According to data, the four major state-owned banks have laid off more than 20,000 employees in the first half of 2021. However, these employees are mainly tellers, and some positions in the bank are even unable to recruit people, such as technology talents. Today's era is the era of science and technology. For scientific and technological talents, they are "hot cakes" wherever they go.