More than 200,000 banking jobs in Europe may disappear by 2030 as banks embrace AI and close physical branches, according to a recent Morgan Stanley estimate published by the Financial Times.
That amounts to about 10% of 35 big banks’ personnel.
Back-office operations, risk management, and compliance among other core operations of banking, where algorithms are thought to be more efficient than humans, will be the areas most severely affected.
According to the Morgan Stanley research, banks are drooling over anticipated 30% efficiency benefits with the rollout of AI.
The CEO of Société Générale has stated that “nothing is sacred,” while the Dutch lender ABN Amro says it plans to lay off a quarter of its employees by 2028.
However, some European banking executives are advising caution; a JPMorgan Chase executive told the Financial Times that the business may suffer if junior bankers never grasp the fundamentals.
Meanwhile, Europe is not the only continent experiencing downsizing. In October, Goldman Sachs issued a warning to American workers about layoffs and a hiring ban through the end of 2025 as part of an AI initiative called “OneGS 3.0,” which is aimed at everything from regulatory reporting to client onboarding.
