To The Moon

An overview of staffing and average monthly salary adjustments across 17 A-share listed city commercial banks reveals that 14 institutions reduced headcount in the first half of the year, yet 11 still managed to achieve year-on-year growth in per-capita monthly pay. As the 2026 semi-annual reporting season drew to a close, the latest human resources landscape for these 17 banks has come into sharper focus.

In terms of workforce size, the 17 listed city commercial banks collectively shed more than 4,100 employees, a figure equivalent to the entire staff of a mid-sized city commercial bank. Among them, 14 banks recorded a net decrease in employees compared to the start of the year, while only 3 posted a net increase. By absolute numbers, the three banks with the largest headcount reductions were Bank Of Changsha Co.,Ltd., Bank Of Ningbo, and Bank Of Jiangsu, which cut 1,080, 1,002, and 827 employees respectively in the first half, totaling over 2,900 and accounting for roughly 70% of the aggregate net reduction.

Among these, Bank Of Ningbo and Bank Of Jiangsu saw the most significant layoffs in absolute terms, largely due to their larger employee bases. As the only two city commercial banks with workforces exceeding 20,000, their headcount numbers are more prone to larger fluctuations. In relative terms, the steepest percentage decline was at Bank Of Suzhou Co.,Ltd., with a drop of 11.84%, followed by Bank Of Changsha Co.,Ltd. at 11.02%. Larger institutions like Bank Of Ningbo, Bank Of Jiangsu, and Bank Of Beijing saw reductions of 4.03%, 3.78%, and 1.81% respectively, while the smallest bank, Bank Of Xi'an, posted a 2.42% cut, a figure comparable to that of Bank Of Beijing.

The three banks that expanded their rosters were Bank Of Shanghai, Bank Of Zhengzhou, and Bank Of Qilu, adding 472, 120, and 57 employees respectively during the half-year period. Bank Of Shanghai recorded the highest growth rate among the 17 at 3.36%, consistent with its previously announced plan to add 3,500 sales personnel over the next five years. Bank Of Zhengzhou grew by 1.98%, and Bank Of Qilu by 0.95%.

Aggregating the workforce data, 14 banks decreased while 3 increased, for a net reduction of over 4,119 people. Relative to the total headcount of more than 170,000 across the 17 listed city commercial banks, this represents just over 2%, a relatively modest impact. Moreover, the headcount cuts at most banks are structural in nature, either shrinking naturally as business processes become more digital and branch operations grow more intelligent, or being actively optimized as part of cost-efficiency initiatives.

On the employee expense front, a pattern of "reducing headcount without reducing costs" has emerged. Among the 17 banks, 10 reported year-on-year growth in employee expense metrics during the first half, while 7 saw declines. This means that even as workforces contracted, overall spending did not correspondingly narrow and in some cases expanded. The three banks with the highest year-on-year increases in employee expenses were Bank Of Chongqing, Bank Of Xiamen, and Bank Of Qilu, with growth rates of 13.25%, 11.88%, and 10.98% respectively, all being relatively small-to-mid-sized city commercial banks. Conversely, Bank Of Zhengzhou posted the steepest decline at 9.54%, followed by Bank Of Beijing at 5.86% and Bank Of Jiangsu at 4.8%.

With headcount falling broadly and expenses rising in many cases, average monthly salaries have also trended upward, driven by a contraction in the numerator and expansion in the denominator. Of the 17 banks, 11 saw year-on-year growth in per-capita monthly pay. On this metric, Bank Of Ningbo leads the pack at RMB 54,100 per month, which is 2.6 times the figure at the lowest-ranked Bank Of Zhengzhou at RMB 20,800, and it is also the only institution to break through the RMB 50,000 threshold. Six banks fall within the RMB 40,000 to 50,000 range: Bank Of Nanjing (RMB 47,500), Bank Of Changsha Co.,Ltd. (RMB 45,000), Bank Of Beijing (RMB 43,700), Bank Of Shanghai (RMB 41,700), Bank Of Suzhou Co.,Ltd. (RMB 40,900), and Bank Of Chengdu (RMB 40,000).

Among these, Bank Of Changsha Co.,Ltd. recorded the highest year-on-year increase in average monthly salary at 17.49%, the result of its 11.02% headcount reduction (second-highest) combined with a 13.25% rise in employee expenses (fourth-highest). Seven banks fall in the RMB 30,000 to 40,000 range: Bank Of Chongqing, Bank Of Jiangsu, Bank Of Hangzhou, Bank Of Xiamen, Bank Of Qilu, Bank Of Qingdao, and Bank Of Guiyang. Three banks sit below RMB 30,000: Bank Of Lanzhou, Bank Of Xi'an, and Bank Of Zhengzhou. Notably, Bank Of Chongqing and Bank Of Xiamen also saw monthly salary growth exceeding 10%, at 11.73% and 10.56% respectively, while Bank Of Zhengzhou languishes at the bottom not only in absolute pay but also in year-on-year change, with a steep decline of 11.11%.

It is worth highlighting that for some banks, average monthly salary and total employee expense movements do not always align in the same direction. For instance, among the 10 banks with rising employee expenses, Bank Of Shanghai actually saw its per-capita monthly salary decline year-on-year. Conversely, among the 7 banks with falling employee expenses, Bank Of Xi'an, Bank Of Guiyang, and Bank Of Hangzhou all recorded higher average monthly salaries. These divergences underscore the varying structural adjustments taking place within individual institutions.