Only 12% of GTCO Staff Earn Above ₦1M Monthly — What The Numbers Say About Pay, Profit and Inequality
Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) reported a strong profit for the first half of 2025 while the majority of its employees continue to earn well below ₦1 million per month. This article breaks down the numbers, explains how pay bands are distributed across the organisation, and examines what the data tells us about compensation, outsourcing and inequality in Nigeria’s banking sector.
Quick snapshot: the essential figures
GTCO employed 5,866 permanent staff as of June 2025. Less than 722 employees — roughly 12% of the workforce — earned more than ₦1,000,000 per month in that period. Meanwhile the group posted a profit after tax of ₦449.01 billion for the six-month period ending June 2025. 1
In a bid to protect staff living standards, GTBank (GTCO’s core banking subsidiary) implemented a pay rise in September 2024; the bank publicly announced a 40% increase for staff at that time, and by June 2025 the group’s personnel expenses had risen by about 31.08% year-on-year. 2
These headline numbers — high group profit alongside a concentrated band of higher-paid staff — are the starting point for understanding compensation dynamics at one of Nigeria’s largest banks.
Why those headline figures matter
At first glance the combination of strong profit and modest employee pay appears contradictory. A bank generating hundreds of billions in profit can still have most employees earning modest wages because corporate profit does not automatically translate into uniform pay increases across levels. Instead, bonus pools, director emoluments, equity rewards and targeted increments typically favour senior management and specialised roles.
GTCO’s reported profit-after-tax of ₦449.01B for H1 2025 provides significant room for reinvestment — whether into technology, capital buffers, or employee compensation. Yet the distribution of that reinvestment is clearly selective. 3
Pay bands and the pyramid
The company’s filing divides staff into annual salary bands. The largest grouping — 1,404 staff — sit in a middle band that approximates monthly earnings between about ₦377,500 and ₦494,168 (these are the mid-point estimates used for public context). Only a small fraction of employees cross the ₦1 million monthly threshold.
What this structure suggests is a steep pyramid: a wide base of junior and mid-level staff with modest pay; a thinner middle layer of higher-earning specialists and senior managers; and a very narrow top of executives and directors who capture outsized compensation packages.
Directors, emoluments and the executive premium
Director-level pay is reported separately. In H1 2025, directors’ emoluments rose by nearly 29.5% to about ₦1.65 billion. The highest-paid director received ₦209.07 million in that six-month stretch (a figure that still represented a drop compared to the prior year’s top director pay). These sums sit in stark contrast with typical monthly earnings for non-management staff. 4
When one director’s six-month pay is compared with the annualised earning potential of a typical staff member, the gap becomes dramatic — and that gap is an important focal point for discussions about fairness, morale and retention in the sector.
Outsourcing: shifting costs but not necessarily jobs
In addition to permanent staff costs, GTCO increased spending on outsourced services by more than 36% year-on-year to roughly ₦19.73 billion. Outsourcing remains a major lever for banks to manage costs: many customer-facing roles like tellers and support agents are now handled by outsourced contractors, often earning substantially less than permanent staff. 5
Outsourcing reduces fixed personnel liabilities and gives management flexibility. But it also raises long-term concerns about job quality, benefits coverage and the stability of bank-customer relationships — especially when outsourced staff are the primary touchpoint for retail customers.
What internal metrics like “average people cost” hide
Public filings aggregate many items into headline figures such as “personnel expenses” and “people cost.” These sums include salaries, pension contributions, allowances, share-based compensation and one-off payouts. That aggregation masks internal variance: a generous bonus or stock award to senior management can lift average cost-per-employee while leaving the median employee’s pay unchanged.
GTCO disclosed share-based awards and other senior-management benefits. For example, senior staff were awarded share appreciation rights that — on reporting date — carried material value to individuals near the top of the pyramid. Those awards are a form of compensation that does not directly increase monthly wages for rank-and-file employees.
How long it takes a staffer to earn an executive’s 6-month pay
Simple math highlights the scale of the gap. If a director takes home roughly ₦209 million in six months, the number of years a lower-tier employee would need to match that income runs into decades. These comparisons are blunt but effective in illustrating inequality: they show not just relative differences but time-based opportunity differences — a crucial lens when evaluating social mobility within corporate roles.
Wages, inflation and the 2024 pay adjustment
Nigeria’s inflation and cost-of-living pressures in 2023–2024 forced many companies to reconsider pay. GTBank implemented a broad salary increase in September 2024 — a headline 40% adjustment — designed to cushion staff from rising living costs. Even with that increase, the distribution of earnings remained skewed and many frontline staff continued to fall into modest pay bands. 6
A one-off rise helps purchasing power in the short term, but unless matched by changes in structure (for example, more performance-linked raises for mid-level staff, or broader profit-sharing), it may not reduce the long tail of low earners in large organisations.
Profitability versus people-cost: is GTCO’s ratio sustainable?
For the six months ended June 2025, GTCO’s total people costs (including directors) were around ₦56.04 billion, while the group posted ₦449.01 billion in profit after tax. That produces a striking ratio: the bank earns many times the amount it spends on staff — a dynamic that invites questions about whether the company is optimally balancing shareholder returns, investment in technology and fair employee compensation. 7
From an investor perspective, optimised people-cost and healthy margins can be a sign of operational efficiency. From a social and HR perspective, however, persistent wage inequality can undermine morale and long-term talent pipeline development.
Comparisons: is GTCO an outlier?
Large Nigerian banks commonly show concentrated pay at the top. The trend is not unique to GTCO: globally, banking and financial services often feature pay pyramids because senior executives and specialists (e.g., investment bankers, traders, structured product experts) command high remuneration. That said, the precise shape of the pyramid and the relative size of the base vary by institution, and regulators and the public increasingly scrutinise these gaps.
For context, the banking sector in Nigeria relies heavily on a mix of permanent staff and outsourced contractors, which affects reported staff counts and average wage figures. In sectors with heavy outsourcing, headline staff figures understate the full workforce engaged in delivery.
Policy and reputational considerations
There are at least three levers that management and policymakers can consider:
- Transparent pay frameworks: Clear banding and promotion pathways help staff see how to move up the pyramid.
- Profit-sharing mechanisms: Wider access to performance-linked bonuses or deferred equity could broaden upside beyond executive tiers.
- Responsible outsourcing: Ensuring that outsourced staff receive living wages and access to training protects service quality and reputation.
Regulators may also press banks to disclose more granular pay data or set expectations on human capital deployment, especially where systemic risk or consumer-facing service quality is at stake.
What employees and jobseekers should watch
If you’re working in or hiring for the Nigerian banking sector, these are practical signals to follow:
- Look beyond headline salary increases — ask how raises are distributed across levels.
- Watch for profit-sharing or equity schemes that include non-executive staff.
- Assess outsourcing practices: do contractors have benefits and clear routes to permanent employment?
- Track HR metrics: employee turnover, promotion rates and training budgets indicate investment in people.
Conclusion — balancing efficiency and equity
GTCO’s H1 2025 numbers tell a familiar story: healthy profitability coupled with a steep compensation pyramid. The company has taken concrete steps — salary increases and higher personnel spends — but the distributional challenge remains. For banks that want to stay competitive and retain talent, the question is not only how much they pay but how broadly and predictably they share gains from improved performance.
The debate is both economic and ethical: investors rightly expect returns, but a sustainable corporate strategy should also consider workforce stability and fair remuneration. How GTCO and other big banks evolve their compensation approaches will matter not only to employees, but to customers, regulators and the broader economy.
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