Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO), a leading financial conglomerate in Nigeria, employed 5,866 individuals as of June 2025, marking a slight increase of 37 employees compared to the previous year.
According to its mid-2025 financial disclosure, fewer than 722 staff members receive monthly salaries exceeding ₦1 million (approximately $682.46), representing less than 12.3% of the workforce. The majority, totaling 1,404 employees, earn between ₦377,500.08 ($257.63) and ₦494,167.67 ($337.25) each month. The company reported a profit after tax of ₦449.01 billion ($306.43 million), which is a 50.42% decline from ₦905.57 billion ($618.01 million) recorded in the previous year.
GTBank, the banking arm of GTCO, implemented a 40% salary increase in September 2024 to help employees cope with Nigeria’s escalating living expenses. Consequently, by June 2025, personnel costs surged by 31.08%, reaching ₦54.39 billion ($37.12 million), up from ₦41.50 billion ($28.32 million) in June 2024.
Profit Versus Compensation: H1 2025 Overview
In the first half of 2025, GTCO posted a profit after tax of ₦449.01 billion. The total expenditure on its 5,866 permanent employees and directors amounted to ₦56.04 billion. Below is a breakdown of these figures.
Average Profit After Tax per Employee
Average Cost per Employee
For every ₦1 spent on employee and director compensation, GTCO earned…
…in profit after tax.
Data source: GTCO 2025 Half-Year Financial Report. Figures cover a six-month period. Total compensation (₦56.04 billion) includes staff personnel expenses (₦54.39 billion) plus directors’ remuneration (₦1.65 billion). Staff count (5,866) excludes outsourced personnel. All figures are estimates derived from the report.
Despite the recent salary adjustments, the majority of GTCO’s workforce continues to earn less than ₦1 million monthly, highlighting a widening disparity between top executives and lower-level employees.
Remuneration for directors, which is accounted for separately from personnel expenses, increased by 29.54% to ₦1.65 billion from ₦1.28 billion the previous year. The highest-paid director received ₦209.07 million in the first half of 2025, a 55.62% decrease from ₦471.08 million in the same period last year. Among the directors, three earned between ₦13.50 million and ₦22.50 million, while two surpassed ₦22.50 million. These figures exclude pension and other benefits.
The Wage Disparity
How many years would it take for an average GTCO employee to accumulate the ₦209.07 million earned by the highest-paid director in just six months?
Choose an Annual Salary Range:
Data source: GTCO 2025 Half-Year Financial Report. The comparison is between the director’s six-month earnings and the midpoint monthly salary of the selected staff salary band.
GTCO’s full-time workforce includes only two executive directors, alongside 297 managerial staff and 5,567 non-managerial employees. The reported salary figures exclude additional benefits such as profit-sharing, 13th-month bonuses, and equity-based incentives. For example, as of June 30, 2025, senior management was granted 461,172 shares valued at ₦43 million, based on a share price of ₦93.25 per share, as part of share appreciation rights.
GTCO’s report also revealed that the “average number of employees excluding directors, earning above ₦720,000 annually, received emoluments (excluding pension and certain benefits) within the following ranges:”
GTCO’s Annual Salary Distribution
How are the 5,864 employees spread across salary brackets? The chart illustrates the number of staff within each annual salary category as of June 2025. Hover over each bar to view monthly salary estimates.
Data source: GTCO 2025 Half-Year Financial Report. Monthly figures are provided for reference.
It is important to note that these salary figures exclude expenses related to outsourced personnel, which rose by 36.43% to ₦19.73 billion ($13.47 million) from ₦14.46 billion ($9.87 million) in June 2024. The bank clarified that “outsourcing services refer to wages paid to contract staff engaged through third parties.”
Contract employees, who typically fill roles such as tellers and customer service agents, play a vital role in Nigeria’s banking sector and often serve as the initial point of interaction with customers. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, contract workers made up 42.75% of the 90,455 individuals employed in the banking industry in 2021. The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association reports that banks reduce labor costs by as much as 40% through outsourcing.
Note: Exchange rate applied is ₦1,465.29 to $1.