Note from the Publisher: You could see this coming, but here it come again - the downside of fintech - job displacement. This time, it coming from Dutch bank ING, which has announced it will cut 7,000 jobs due to the increase in customers usage of digital banking. Deutsche Bank also announced over the weekend that it was proceeding with 1,000 job cuts in Germany, as part of an initiative announced in 2015 to cut 9% of its labor force, and BofA announced it was trimming 8,000 jobs in August. We're sure we have not seen the last of it.
"In its strategy update “Accelerating Think Forward”, CEO Ralph Hamers and other executives will introduce a number of initiatives – such as investing €800 million in digital transformation from 2016 to 2021. The bank says its programmes will also lead to approximately €900 million annual cost savings by 2021; but will 'impact around 7,000 employees, mostly in Belgium and the Netherlands'.
In his speech, Hamers says it has 'attracted over three million new customers, supported the economy by growing lending by around €56 billion and strengthened our capital'.
He says customers are 'increasingly digital and bank with us more and more through mobile devices'. At the same time, banks are 'confronted with continuous regulatory burden and a prolonged period of ultra-low interest rates'."
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