The roles, both permanent and contractual jobs, are expected to drive revenue in new segments, including asset management and custodial services.

Absa Bank Kenya’s Chief Finance Officer Yusuf Onari, who also doubles as the lender’s chief strategy officer, said the bulk of jobs came from new hires in asset management while newly opened branches also resulted in the creation of fresh roles.

“While we are automating, there is still an element of facing the customer. With that, of course, we need to hire employees to do that job. We are looking at new revenue streams in all the strategy areas. We hired a completely new team in asset management and the custodial business. We have also grown jobs in bancassurance while our new Eastleigh branch added 15 staff,” he said.

The lender’s staff costs edged upwards marginally in the 12 months to December 2023, reaching Sh11.7 billion from Sh10.4 billion in 2022, mirroring the impact of additional hiring on the cost base.

So far in 2024, the lender has opened a branch at the Business Bay Mall in the populous Eastleigh and plans to open a second one at the Rupas Mall in Eldoret taking the branch count to 85.

Absa Bank Kenya Managing Director Abdi Mohammed says the expansion of the bank’s legacy brick-and-mortar footprint aligns with the lender’s strategy to be front-facing the customer.

“You will see a combination of branch, digital, agency, and an overall multi-channel strategy to ensure we are touching our customers at their point of need but you will not see a ramp-up in the branch network,” he noted.