According to a new analysis by investment bank and securities company Morgan Stanley, more than 200,000 jobs in the European banking industry could disappear by 2030 as banks focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and close physical branches. This figure is equivalent to about 10% of the labor force at 35 major banks.
Personnel cuts will have the most severe impact on logistics, risk management and compliance, the less flashy parts of the banking industry, where algorithms are said to be able to process spreadsheets faster and more efficiently than humans. According to Morgan Stanley's report, banks are very excited about the expected efficiency increase of up to 30%.
Personnel cuts are not limited to Europe. Multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs warned employees in the US in October about job cuts and recruitment freezes until the end of 2025 as part of an effort to apply artificial intelligence (AI) called "OneGS 3.0", targeting all fields from customer reception to regulatory reporting.
Some organizations have begun cutting personnel. Dutch bank ABN Amro plans to cut 1/5 of its staff by 2028, while the CEO of the large European financial and banking service group Societe Generale declares "nothing is inviolable".
