The number of jobs advertised by financial institutions increased three times as much in the third quarter as in the labor market as a whole - although not in the financial metropolis of Frankfurt.
Banks and fintechs wanted to fill more than 54,000 positions in the third quarter of 2026, almost 20 percent more than in the same quarter of the previous year.
The number of positions for experts in finance, accounting and controlling grew by 28 percent to a good 20,000; sales positions were the second most at around 11,400.
The savings banks and cooperative banks are also increasing their number of employees and are planning a major recruiting campaign for the coming year with an expanded training offering.
In Hesse and Frankfurt, vacancies in banks fell, while in federal states such as Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate, advertisements increased by 18 to 20 percent.
Frankfurt. At first glance, the current news situation seems worrying for bank employees. Many institutions are currently changing ownership, such as Commerzbank, which is likely to cut many jobs under Unicredit's leadership. And artificial intelligence could also replace banking jobs in the future. But there is no pessimism on the labor market.
“The financial sector is currently looking for significantly more staff than other sectors,” says Jürgen Grenz, CEO of the Index Group, a Berlin-based personnel market specialist. This is proven by a comprehensive job market analysis by the Index Group, which is available exclusively to Handelsblatt.
Accordingly, banks and fintechs wanted to fill more than 54,000 positions in the third quarter of 2026, almost 20 percent more than in the same quarter of the previous year. Across all sectors, the number of positions that companies in Germany wanted to fill only increased by 6.3 percent in the third quarter.
For the analysis, the index group evaluates job advertisements from 196 print media, 299 online exchanges, the Federal Employment Agency's job portal and more than 900,000 company websites. The personnel market specialist also checks whether several job advertisements refer to the same position and thus eliminates possible duplication.
In the first two quarters of this year, banks were looking for significantly more employees than other sectors. According to the evaluation, experts in finance, accounting and controlling were particularly in demand. Such jobs accounted for a good 20,000 positions, an increase of 28 percent. “Banks advertised the second most jobs in the third quarter of 2026 with around 11,400 positions for salespeople,” says Index boss Grenz.
This continues a trend that began two years ago: After the financial crisis in 2008, German banks and savings banks cut jobs year after year. But in 2023 this development was reversed: Since then, the number of jobs has been growing again, show statistics from the European Central Bank (ECB) and data from the employers' association of private banks.
However, the increase is unevenly distributed: Both the German Savings Banks and Giro Association (DSGV) and the Federal Association of German Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken (BVR) are speaking aggressively about the fact that the number of employees has increased since 2023. And nothing will change that quickly.
In contrast, the employers' association of private banks announced on Friday that the number of employees at private banks and building societies "fell by 1.5 percent in 2025 due to ongoing restructuring." “We take a differentiated look at employment developments in the banking industry,” said Carsten Rogge-Strang, Managing Director of the Employers’ Association of Private Banks (AGV). Depending on the age structure, business models and level of innovation, the need for personnel varies greatly.
This isn't likely to change any time soon either. Private banks expect a decline in the number of employees in the coming years. Because of more mergers in the industry and the automation of many tasks that humans still do today.
The savings banks, on the other hand, are planning a major recruiting campaign for the coming year, as a spokesman for the DSGV said. The fact that the savings banks further expanded their training offerings this year and offered more than 5,900 new trainee positions shows that the banks will also need staff in the coming years.
“The number of external new hires more than tripled between 2016 and 2025,” said a BVR spokesman. Compared to 2023 alone, the number of jobs has increased by 15 percent. Demographic change plays an important role here: “By 2035, around 25 percent of the current workforce will reach the statutory retirement age,” said the BVR spokesman. The demographically-related need to replace employees will remain “significant” for the foreseeable future.
However, the skills sought have also changed. “Artificial intelligence, new technologies and changing customer expectations will permanently change the work in our banks,” said the responsible BVR board member Tanja Müller-Ziegler to the Handelsblatt. “It’s not just about filling vacant positions, but also about building new skills and further developing our employees.”
The regional breakdown of the index group's evaluation also suggests that it is more likely the savings banks and cooperative banks that are filling positions: According to this, banks and fintechs from all federal states and city states were looking for more staff than in the previous year. With one exception: in Hesse, of all places, the federal state in which the Frankfurt financial center is located, the number of vacancies fell compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
In Hesse, five percent fewer jobs were advertised in the third quarter than in the previous year. In the German banking metropolis of Frankfurt it was even twelve percent less. The job growth is therefore more likely to occur in the area, i.e. where savings banks and cooperative banks dominate. Banks in Baden-Württemberg advertised 20 percent more jobs, and in Rhineland-Palatinate there were 18 percent more jobs. In North Rhine-Westphalia it was six percent.
