Nedbank Reduces Physical Office Space by Over 50%
Banking News
Recently Nedbank has significantly reduced the amount of office and branch space it uses, cutting its corporate real estate by more than 50%
Hybrid Work & Reducing Floor Space
Nedbank’s corporate real estate offices and branches have dropped from 381,000m² in 2016 to only 180,000m² in 2024.
This major reduction is part of the bank’s ongoing efforts to use less space to cut costs and streamline its operations across South Africa (and the SADC region).
The reduction in space has largely been driven by changes in how people work these days, especially after the massive the shift to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of Nedbank’s staff now work in a hybrid model, where they split their time between the office and home.
‘the bank’s expenses for office space have actually stayed almost the same over the past five years’
While the change comes with challenges it has allowed the bank to cut costs while trying to maintain the usual level of service. As a result, despite rising rental and administrative costs, the bank’s expenses for office space have actually stayed almost the same over the past five years.
Even Smaller Branches in The Future
Looking ahead, Nedbank plans to continue optimizing its branch network by making most branches smaller and more focused on digital services.
Currently, four out of five branches are already digitally focused, and by the end of 2025, the plan is that more than half of Nedbank’s branches will be under 200m².
At the same time the bank is also increasing the number of ATMs that can accept deposits so they can reduce floor space and tellers at branches.
Besides, who wants to go to a branch anyway when you can just use an app from anywhere?
