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The banking sector’s workforce grew in 2023 with over 44,000 hires

The banking sector’s workforce grew in 2023 with over 44,000 hires

In 2023, French banks continued to actively hire, adding 44,500 new employees to their workforce. With 355,100 employees at the end of 2023 (including 182,000 in the AFB branch), the banking sector increased its headcount (+0.2% excluding work-study participants) for the first time in several years. The sector accounts for nearly 1.7% of private-sector salaried employment in France.

This hiring momentum was also reflected in the number of work-study participants, totalling 19,650 in 2023, up a healthy 7% from the previous year. This brings the entire sector workforce to 374,750.

A dynamic sector and permanent jobs

The French banking sector is a major employer, accounting for 1.7% of private-sector salaried employment. The sector had nearly 375,000 employees and 20,000 work-study participants at the end of 2023.

French banks hired 44,500 employees, including 22,300 in the AFB branch. Of these 22,300, 16,600 are permanent hires; more than 74% are on permanent contracts (vs. 66% in 2017), representing more than 98% of jobs in the sector.

Turnover decreased in 2023 and stands at 9.4% for the sector (vs. 10.2% in 2022) and is less than half the national average (22.2%).

Highly skilled and diverse jobs for women throughout France

With women making up nearly 57% of its workforce, banking is a sector that promotes parity: women account for 50.8% of new hires, and one in two is hired at the managerial level; 50% of managers are women (+5.4 points since 2012); and women account for 59.9% of promotions.

It is also a sector where jobs are skilled (managers make up 71.2% of the workforce, +16.3 points since 2012) and open to people with different types of degrees. Of the sector’s permanent hires, 57% have 4-5 years of higher education or more, 33.8% have 2-3 years of higher education, and 9.2% have less than 2 years of higher education.

Customer relations jobs account for nearly 54% of permanent hires. These jobs are located throughout France, as a local footprint is the hallmark of French banks and an important component of their relationship-based model. They outpace jobs in IT (13.8%), compliance and risk management (8.6%) and back office (4.5%).

A responsible and engaged sector

In 2023, French banks hired 14,820 new work-study participants, bringing the total number at the end of 2023 to 19,650.

In the AFB branch alone, there are 10,400 work-study participants (of which 7,600 new contracts in 2023), as well as 6,300 young people working as interns and 750 young people participating in the Volontariat International à l’Etranger (international business internship) programme. Of note is that 24.5% of the young people on work-study programmes live in disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods and are in undergraduate or postgraduate education programmes.

Banks also actively help integrate young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods and skilled refugees into the workplace through partnerships, including with APELS and each One.

At the same time, nearly one in two new hires is under the age of 30.

Banks’ policies on older workers, often as part of dedicated collective agreements, have helped to gradually increase the retirement age, which was 62.6 years in 2023 (+1.7 points since 2012).

For Maya Atig, Chief Executive Officer of the AFB and the FBF: “In 2023, banks saw their workforce increase for the first time in several years, with significant hiring across a range of business lines. They are also major players in training and integration. They dedicated 4.2% of their total payroll to training their employees, or nearly 5 million hours, and brought in 7,600 new work-study participants. These figures demonstrate the extent to which banks across the country are actively involved in integration and development”.

Key banking-sector figures and employment trends in 2023 (PDF)

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Download Key banking-sector figures and employment trends in 2023 (PDF)

Benoit DANTON

bdanton@fbf.fr

+33 (0)6.73.48.80.40

Clara DELMOTE

cdelmote@fbf.fr

+33 (0)6.31.06.60.39

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