South African lenders are hiring more staff to target the country’s poorest people as banks from New York to London slash jobs to cut costs.
Employment in financial services climbed for a fourth consecutive month in November, rising 0.7 percent to 1.63 million, according to an index compiled by Johannesburg-based recruitment company Adcorp Holdings Ltd. That growth rate was only exceeded by South Africa’s transport industry.
“The story is about banking the unbanked,” Loane Sharp, Adcorp’s labor economist, said an interview from Johannesburg. “Banking services to the consumer are growing enormously with non-traditional offerings from the four biggest banks.”