The shift to digital threatens many of the jobs in the banking sector, particularly the administrative ones, so banks need to strengthen training to employ digital systems without significantly destroying jobs.
The French newspaper Les Echos reported a specialized study that painted a picture of the great turmoil that bankers will experience under the pressure of digitalization.
The study predicted that 20% of the workforce in this sector will disappear by 2025, and jobs will change 50% of employees.
"The current changes in the banking industry are fast and deep and will accelerate further, and our digital environment, technological developments and the demands of our customers require us to develop quickly," warns the French Bankers' Syndicate of Banking Syndicate, Beatrice Lien.
The beginning of the fall
Jobs related to administrative work, such as arranging archives, clearing calls, following up on ongoing operations and collecting simple information to other jobs are the most vulnerable.
The study, which predicts intensive manufacturing of artificial intelligence tools in this sector, predicts that "operations will be digital and many processors will be done by the machine," and support functions and commercial sections will be under great pressure to adapt to all digital channels.
She pointed out that this shift is now taking place on a large scale. In 2012 and 2017, the number of receptionists, managers and back office managers has fallen by more than 15% in French commercial banks, with banks continuing to reduce their branch workers.
The banking sector in general has not created jobs since 2010, with French banks losing 4% of their workforce.
Decreased jobs
"Jobs after the financial crisis have decreased, but this has been overshadowed by the increase in the number of staff in the central services, but now we have come to what the numbers say are slow and continuous erosion," said Régis dos Santos, president of the National Union of Banks and Credit.
"The impact on job creation in new areas is still uncertain," said Jean Bernard Girault, head of consulting firm Jean-Bernard Guerault.