Banking system employees earned on average a little more than 2,900 RON in January, with payments marking a slight increase from November levels.

In December, the net average income of bank employees took a leap to almost 3,500 RON, as yearend and holiday bonuses were paid out, show NBR data.

In October, wages had registered a shock decline, shrinking from 3,500 to 2,500 RON, reflecting the introduction of new rules on contributions to social security. Thus, the cap for the calculation of these contributions, of five average gross wages (around 6,000 RON), was eliminated, with the move directly hitting bank employees with high incomes.

Under the circumstances, this January's net gain is smaller than the one registered in June 2007, when employees earned 3,242 RON on average.

However, compared with October levels, gains of the first month of this year show a 17% advance. Wages' upward trend is further sustained by banks' battling over employees.

Bank managers have started complaining in recent years that network expansion has been putting pressure on human resources. Experienced employees became increasingly hard to find, especially as banks have started expanding their networks in small towns, as well.

As a matter of fact, several banks that have not managed to create a broad network, yet, such as OTP or MKB Romexterra, even announced they would shift to developing alternative distribution channels. This happens as operating classical branch networks has come to entail ever higher costs amid rising rents and employee wages.

While bankers announced network expansion may be slowed down this year given the rising costs and the deteriorating business environment that led to rising risks, the branch network continued to expand at a fast pace. In January alone 101 branches were added, with the total number thus getting to 5,582 lo