Headcount at China's four biggest banks shrinks as payments move online

Shanghai

TOTAL headcount at China's four largest banks fell in 2016 for the first time in six years, as the lenders cut costs and tried to a-dapt their massive branch networks in the face of competition from online payment giants Ant Financial and Tencent Holdings Ltd.

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank Corp, Agricultural Bank of China Ltd and Bank of China employed 17,824 fewer people at the end of 2016, the first such drop since at least 2011, an analysis of their earnings filings last week showed. The drop reflected in part the way the nation's banks are trying to trim the estimated three million people who work in their branch networks.