THE BANKING sector in Slovakia employed 19,836 people at the end of 2009, with a gradual decrease occurring in every quarter since the end of 2008. The number of employees in the banking sector has fallen by 8.6 percent, or by 1,862 people, since the end of December 2008, the SITA newswire wrote, citing data from the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS).
The decline in employment was more significant among commercial banks, which recorded staff layoffs of 1,848 persons over the year and had 18,750 employees at the end of 2009. Slovakia’s central bank shed 14 employees over the same period and had a staff of 1,086 at the end of 2009.
The banking sector had 1,230 branch offices and various other levels of representation throughout Slovakia at the end of last year – 2.2 percent less than the previous year. At the end of last year Slovenská Sporiteľňa reported it had 254 branch offices; VÚB Banka registered 254 branches and other organisational units; ČSOB had 155 branches; and Tatra Banka listed 148 branches.
The NBS, Slovakia’s central bank, oversees 15 commercial banks and eleven foreign bank branches operating in Slovakia.
