Number of staff at banks in Switzerland
The banks employed 94,347 people (full-time equivalents) in Switzerland at the end of 2024, an increase of 1,048 compared with 2023. Financial sector unemployment stood at 3.0%, somewhat higher than for the economy as a whole and up slightly year-on-year.
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Trends in 2024
The number of people employed in the banking sector rose by a further 1.1% to 94,347 at the end of 2024. The unemployment rate in the financial sector was minimally higher than the Swiss average at 3.0%.
The banks employed 94,347 people (full-time equivalents) in Switzerland in 2024, up 1,048 or 1.1% year-on-year. The number of staff in the banking sector thus increased for the fifth year in succession, surpassing the level seen in 2017, although that figure had been preceded by a gradual decline. According to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), unemployment in the financial sector averaged 3.0% in December 2024, just above the figure for the economy as a whole. In total, 3,500 banking sector workers were registered unemployed at the end of the year, an increase of 748 compared with 2023. The 1,048 rise vindicates the cautiously positive forecast contained in last year’s SBA employment survey of Swiss-based banks. A little over half of the banks polled expected headcount to remain stable, with roughly a third predicting a rise. Despite the increase in headcount, personnel expenses fell slightly, although the decrease was much less pronounced than in prior years at CHF 37.3 mn. As regards gender distribution, the proportion of female bank staff remained stable at 38.6% in 2024 (36,408 full-time equivalents). There were 581 new female members of staff and 467 male. Looking back over the last decade, the proportion of female employees has risen slightly but remained essentially unchanged overall.
Figure 23
Domestic headcount stable for banks in Switzerland
The banks’ domestic headcount remained almost unchanged in the first half of 2025, declining by just 0.1%. The 1.7% fall in overall headcount was almost entirely due to continuing job cuts abroad. The outlook for the remainder of the year is cautiously positive.
According to the SBA’s annual survey, the number of people employed at banks in Switzerland remained virtually unchanged between the end of 2024 and June 2025, falling by only 93 FTEs or 0.1%. Abroad, staff numbers fell markedly over the same period, with a gain of 2,860 FTEs more than offset by 5,519 departures, leading to a net fall of 3.3%. The reduction in headcount seen at Swiss banks abroad in prior years has thus continued. One key factor here was the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS, which led to multiple duplicate structures being eliminated and international units being merged.
Figure 24
Estimates for rest of year positive
Some 96% of the institutions that took part in the survey are taking an optimistic view, with over 60% forecasting a stable headcount and around a third expecting it to rise. The proportion of banks anticipating growth in staff numbers has only been higher in two of the last ten years, with a similar figure recorded in 2024. Only about 4% of the banks that responded to this year’s survey expect their headcount to fall. This proportion is lower than it was throughout the period from 2014 to 2024. In a multi-year comparison, therefore, we can say that the employment situation is fundamentally upbeat. The labour market index for the banking sector only partially confirms the results of the SBA survey. Both the number of vacancies and the number of registered unemployed showed a minimal decline between the first and second quarters of 2025. However, the expectations component of the index was slightly negative in the second quarter for the first time since the start of 2021, despite having been positive in the first quarter. Banks planning to create new jobs in the coming quarter were narrowly in the minority for the first time in four years. At the same time, the proportion of banks experiencing recruitment difficulties due to a lack of qualified specialists, which had fallen to 33% in the first quarter of the year, rose to a high level of 40% in the second. This indicates that it is hard to find the right staff at present.
Figure 25
Figure 26
No significant changes expected in individual business areas
In addition to the general trend, the banks were also asked about the expected employment trend in individual areas of business. Analysis of the responses shows an overwhelming majority of banks expecting staff numbers to remain stable in all areas, i.e. retail banking, wealth management, institutional asset management, trading activities and logistics. There is thus no individual area that clearly reflects the overarching optimism. The survey underscores the fact that banks expect the overall employment trend to be stable or positive, with mostly stable figures in the business areas.
Figure 27
Financial sector unemployment down slightly in first half of 2025
SECO reports that the unemployment rate in the financial sector was 3.0% at the end of 2024, just above the rate of 2.8% for Switzerland as a whole. It has fallen minimally so far this year (June 2025: 2.9%), which is in line with the trend in the national rate (June 2025: 2.7%). The labour market index for the banking sector confirms this deviation from the broader economy. Staff remain in slightly shorter supply in banking than in other sectors. The JOBSTAT job statistics published by the federal government recorded 5,500 vacancies and almost 7,000 jobseekers across the financial sector as a whole in the first quarter of 2025.