Leading Wall Street banks (the financial center of New York) received a total of approximately $47 billion in profit for the quarter, but at the same time laid off approximately 15 thousand employees. One of the key factors of this trend is the introduction of AI into operational processes.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said the bank has already cut about 1,000 jobs through automation and “eliminating unnecessary work” using AI.
Other large banks are also actively moving towards automation. Citigroup plans to cut up to 20 thousand employees as part of an efficiency improvement program, while simultaneously introducing AI from Microsoft, Google, OpenAI and Anthropic for document processing and client operations.
At Wells Fargo, artificial intelligence already generates credit reports, prepares deal presentations and automatically handles customer calls. The bank's management acknowledges that technology will inevitably reduce the number of jobs.
Despite the official rhetoric about “increasing efficiency,” analysts note that AI is gradually moving beyond the auxiliary tool and is actually replacing some office professions – from the back office to analytics and investment departments.
At the same time, the industry has so far avoided direct statements about the massive displacement of people, although the trend of staff reductions against the backdrop of rising incomes is already becoming systemic.
