The tax on extraordinary profits, or the war tax, applies to the largest banks and energy companies. The government of Petr Fiala (ODS) promises up to 120 billion kroner in addition to this year’s budget. However, Moneta complains that because of the tax, he will have to radically limit investment plans and also get rid of some workers.
“We assume that in the middle of the year, employment in Moneta will be at the level of 2,500 employees. At the end of the third quarter of last year, we had 2,799 employees,” explains Filipová. Although other Czech banks also criticize the extraordinary levies, they are not going to lay off to the same extent as Moneta. Some are even recruiting new people.
“Spořitelna really does not plan layoffs this year, the number of our employees has been stable for several years,” says Česká spořitelna spokesman Filip Hrubý, adding that cost optimization is ongoing in the company, but it is not a massive reduction in the order of tens of percent.
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“The number of employees has been more or less stable since the beginning of last year. However, the structure is changing, as the needs of clients change and as we digitize and automate some processes – some positions are disappearing, others are being created. We are always recruiting new employees. To a large extent, we are successful in internal rotation from disappearing positions to new ones,” says Patrik Madle from the ČSOB group.
Komerční banka is also talking about similar plans, which although it wants to eliminate some jobs by 2025 due to digitization, it is also creating new ones at the same time. “For 2023, we are not planning any major changes in the field of employment, primarily due to the implementation of the New Digital Bank. At the same time, we are continuing the transformation of the entire group, as part of which approximately 300 employees will be transferred from KB to Modrá pyramida stavební spořitelna – it will become a pillar in the area of mortgage loan offerings,” says Ctirad Lolek, executive director for human resources at Komerční banka.
Air Bank, which, like Moneta, belongs to the PPF group will not be laid off either. “On the contrary, we are recruiting new employees and creating completely new positions. In the future, we have great ambitions regarding the offer of new services and the expansion of existing ones. That’s why we need more skilled heads and hands, whether it’s colleagues in IT, at branches, or various other departments that we have in the bank,” wrote Air Bank spokeswoman Jana Pokorná.
Economists do not believe that the tax on extraordinary profits represents a serious problem for the banking sector, and money houses should deal with its effects without problems, unlike energy companies. thanks to last year’s robust profits.
“Unlike big banks, Moneta focuses more on consumer loans. The current rise in interest rates may thus have a more negative impact on the production of new loans in this segment. At the same time, the economic slowdown may translate into weaker profitability. It is such a legitimate strategy that the bank will proceed with more aggressive cost reductions in order to deliver profits that correspond to long-term plans,” says Tomáš Pfeiler, portfolio manager of Cyrrus brokerage company. At the same time, however, he adds that Moneta is generally in good condition and the current release cannot be considered a sign of problems.
The Chief Economist of the Czech Banking Association, Jakub Seidler, is also optimistic about the economic recession in relation to financial houses. “Of course, it will depend to a large extent on how noticeable the economic slowdown is this year. Activity on the mortgage market will probably remain very subdued this year as well. In general, however, the banking sector should overcome these negative circumstances without difficulty due to its high capital level,” Seidler believes. “However, this does not mean that individual institutions will not take various measures to better cope with the new situation, both on the revenue and expenditure side,” he adds.
In any case, the situation on the Czech financial market looks better than in some Western countries. For example, the American banking giant Goldman Sachs announced last week one of the largest layoffs in its history. The company will cut around 3,200 jobs due to the uncertain economic outlook.
