KCB Group will hire 400 new workers across its regional operations in the coming months as it moves to strengthen its digital platforms in line with the growing preference for non-branch banking.

The group in October last year hired Dennis Volemi as the director for technology and now wants to expand the team in a move that will take its headcount past the 12,220 it had as at the end of December.

KCB chief executive Paul Russo said the new roles are in line with the group’s investment in “digital leadership.”

“We are building a whole new capability, adding almost 400 people into the digital channels to make sure we can quickly conceptualise, partner and deliver our propositions,” he said.

KCB, he said, will also hire a group strategy and innovation director to help the firm in increasing the usage of data and analytics.

The latest Kenya Bankers Association customer satisfaction survey shows 45.7 percent of customers prefer fully-automated or self-service platforms, including mobile, internet and chatbots for their banking services.

The planned hiring will add to the 1,123 that the group added last year, partly on the acquisition of the DRC Congo’s Trust Merchant Bank.

KCB Group closed last year with 12,220 employees, up from 11,097 in 2022. KCB Bank Kenya and National Bank of Kenya added 931 jobs during this period, bringing their headcount to 8,244, out of which 5,875 were engaged on a full-time basis while 2,369 were on a part-time basis.

The planned jobs underline the trend where banks are creating thousands of new job opportunities, bucking the trend of layoffs and hiring freeze being witnessed in many sectors.

A Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) survey released in January, capturing the sentiments of CEOs, showed that banks were more optimistic about hiring this year as opposed to non-bank sectors.

The survey showed that while 28 percent of the surveyed CEOs from banks said they will "definitely” hire, just seven percent of their non-bank counterparts said they planned to increase their headcount this year.