Banks spent 968 hours complying with regulations in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to a recent report from Continuity, which produces regulatory change management software to the financial services industry.

That duration works out to 24 weeks of full-time work for the quarter, or the equivalent of more than two full-time employees — 2.23, to be precise, according to Continuity. That may not be a big deal to megabanks, but for a one-branch bank with 10 or 12 employees, well, you do the math.

New Haven, Conn.-based Continuity, which releases quarterly reports on compliance data, noted this is a 77% increase over last quarter, driven by 125 regulatory changes. The previous quarter saw only 70 regulatory changes, while the year-ago quarter had 79.

“After analyzing the 2016 regulatory agendas that the agencies have issued, we do not expect to see a significant reduction in the pace or volume of regulatory change in the foreseeable future,” said Donna Cameron, Continuity’s Director of Regulatory Input/Ouput. “Financial institutions will need to have robust change management processes in place to keep up.”

Bankers don’t generally air their grievances about compliance openly. But you don’t need to look far for anecdotal support for the heavy compliance load Continuity is logging. For example:

Had dinner with a banker last night. She spent 2 hours on reg – compliance issues just to write a $2000 loan.

— Bryan Clagett (@Clagett) January 29, 2016

Meanwhile, how many FTEs did your bank devote to innovation efforts last quarter?