DTB hires 382 more staff, eyes bigger regional market growth plan

A customer at a Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) ATM machine at Garden City Mall in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | NMG

DTB Group saw its staff count rise by 382 as the Kenyan banking multinational continued with its regional expansion strategy, with most of the new jobs added in Kenya.

The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm disclosed in its latest annual report that its workforce increased to 2,538 in the year ended December, up from 2,156 a year earlier.

Read: DTB set to spend Sh350m on new Kenyan branches

DTB says it hired a sales force of more than 200 in Kenya alone to implement its customer acquisition strategy amid the opening of more branches.

“The group has rolled-out an ambitious plan to widen its branch network in Kenya to support the customer acquisition strategy as well as to drive service delivery,” the lender said.

“The outlets are to act as acquisition and conversion centres through a targeted marketing drive spearheaded by the sales force team.”

The growth plan saw the total number of employees in Kenya rise to 1,262 in the review period, up from 994 the year before.

The staff count rose by 72 and 41 respectively to 652 and 577 in Uganda and Tanzania. In Burundi, its smallest operation, the workforce rose by one to 47.

DTB opened seven new branches last year raising the bank’s total distribution network to 134 and plans to open 24 new outlets this year in Kenya.

The lender has already started the expansion scheduled for this year, opening three new branches in Kiambu town and Nairobi’s Baba Dogo and Kijabe Street as of March.

While the uptake of digital banking platforms such as agency, Internet and mobile has accelerated in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, physical branches are still seen as important for the recruitment of new customers and boosting service delivery.

DTB is among the big banks to disclose a significant increase in staff count, a trend that has been attributed to a mix of organic growth and acquisitions.

KCB Group added 2,560 employees to its payroll last year following the acquisition of a controlling stake in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Trust Merchant Bank (TMB) and fresh hiring across other units.

The acquisition saw KCB get 85 per cent in the DRC’s Trust Merchant Bank (TMB) mid-December last year, raising the workforce of the group to 11,098 in the year ended December from 8,538 in the previous year.

Equity Group added 538 employees to its payroll last year also on an increased number of branches mainly in DRC.

The bank disclosed the number of its permanent staff hit 8,226 in the year ended December 2022 from 7,688 in the previous year.

Read: DTB opens new branches in Nairobi and Kiambu

The expansion of hiring has raised the lenders’ staff costs which has been met with increased revenue from increased transactions, acquisitions of more customers and growth in lending.

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