Banking sector: amid mergers and digitalisation, the number of bank employees in the EU has fallen by 920,000 since 2010

Over the last twenty years, the decline in the number of banks has been accompanied by a rationalisation of structures and workforces, with the aim of strengthening their efficiency, competitiveness and long-term sustainability across much of Europe. Spain, for example, is the most emblematic case of how a systemic crisis can reshape an entire sector. Following a period of staff growth up to 2010 (+7 per cent), the banking system lost almost 95,000 employees (-36 per cent) over the following fifteen years. The restructuring brought about by the property crisis and the bailout of local banks has led to the emergence of a much more concentrated market, in which the return to profitability has also involved a drastic reduction in employment.

According to Fabi data, the number of bank branches in Italia has fallen from 33,631 in 2010 to 19,182 – a reduction of 14,449, or 43 per cent. “Innovation is essential, but it must not lead to a rollback of the bank’s social function. Technology must enhance the service, not replace the relationship with people and local communities,” says Sileoni. Now that negotiations for the renewal of the collective agreement are getting underway, the banks must not forget that when things were not going well, renewals were kept to modest figures and there were many agreements to adjust labour costs, including through voluntary redundancies with the Solidarity Fund. Now that things are going well, the banks must act in line with the current situation.’

A comparison with other European countries shows that Italia has undergone the transformation and consolidation of the sector by following a different path, based on management negotiated with the trade unions. This is partly because the banking sector has the highest level of trade union membership in Italia. “It is the country that has placed the greatest emphasis on bilateralism and consultation with the trade unions, with the national collective agreement at its heart,” points out Sileoni. With a 20 per cent decline in the number of bank employees (10 percentage points below the EU average of 30 per cent), has seen its workforce reduced by 63,000 (from 321,000 in 2010 to 257,966 in 2025) and is no exception. Nor is it Spain, which lies well above the EU average: there are 95,158 fewer Spanish bank employees, a fall of 36 per cent, having dropped from 261,389 to 166,231. Nor, however, is it France, where the cuts have been more modest and, over the last 15 years, the number of bank employees has fallen by 8 per cent, from 412,933 to 378,127. In Germany, the decline was 15 per cent: banks lost 95,167 jobs, with the number of employees falling from 615,616 in 2010 to 520,449 in 2025.

The fact that Italia has managed to keep the figures under control is also due to the ongoing generational transition within the sector, which has been facilitated by the Solidarity Fund established in 2000 on the one hand, and the Employment Fund established in 2012 on the other. The latter has enabled over 41,841 new hires (as of February 2025), thereby limiting job losses. The dual approach of voluntary departures by older workers and the recruitment of young people, together with the unwritten agreement between companies and trade unions that for every two departures there should be one recruitment, has helped to prevent a collapse in employment levels. ‘The difference between us and the rest of Europe,’ explains Sileoni, ‘lies in the Solidarity Fund for managing redundancies. There is nothing truly comparable in other European countries. This has been the instrument that has made the difference and continues to do so because it has enabled problems to be resolved internally at all times, whilst ensuring that workers can leave on a voluntary basis.”

The history of the Fund takes us back a quarter of a century, to the year 2000, when, as Sileoni recalls, ‘trade unions and banks addressed the issue of the sector’s future over the next 20 to 30 years. It was a very forward-looking vision because, to manage the changes that were already anticipated at the time, the Solidarity Fund was set up, with the banks bearing the costs. It has effectively become the tool for managing redundancies, mergers and acquisitions over the last 25 years’. Not only that, Sileoni continues. ‘It has also become the tool for updating business plans. Banks draw up three-year plans but then normally update them halfway through. The number of redundancies initially agreed with the trade unions often increases by 15–20 per cent. The Fund serves not only to manage banking crises, but also to avoid redundancies in favour of voluntary departures and, on the part of the banks, to reposition Italian labour costs relative to the European average.”