Banks in South Africa only tinkering with layoffs

The good news is that South African banks, unlike their British or American counterparts, have not had to resort to massive lay-offs.

While the local mining companies have announced tens of thousands of job losses in the wake of collapsing commodity prices and the automotive sector is retrenching because of falling car sales, SA banks have just tinkered.

Some are letting a few people go in their retail arms, "very small fry," as one recruitment executive puts it. The even better news is that, despite several news reports and persistent rumours, there is no hiring freeze at the so-called 'big five', the country's largest banks: Absa, Nedbank, First National, Standard Bank and Investec.

"South African banks are not locking their doors and there is not even major cost-cutting going on," says Anton Apps, founder and Ceo of Anton Apps International Recruitment Specialists in Johannesburg. "It is absolute nonsense to speak of a hiring freeze. All banks are hiring."

The global economic slowdown is belatedly but surely having an impact on individuals and companies in SA, so bad debts are rising and banks' profits will be hard hit. Absa,

the biggest retail bank in SA which is 58% owned by Barclays, recently had to buy stakes in four companies for 1.4bn Rand after client defaults relating to single stock futures. But despite a worsening outlook, the skills shortage is such that banks are still hiring and competing among themselves to capture the scarce talent there is.

"The problem is abroad, - says Phryne Williams, director of Capital Assignments, a financial services recruitment firm. "Global investments banks and international stock broking firms have hiring freezes which apply to their SA offices as well, but South African banks are all still hiring in different divisions."