The chief executive of NatWest, Paul Thwaite, has been accused of “scaremongering” after the 54-year-old said it is inevitable the bank’s 60,000-strong workforce will change as a result of AI.
Speaking at a business summit hosted by The Times, Thwaite said that he did not know whether the bank’s roster of employees would shrink over the next decade but that it “is definitely going to change”.
He added: “In effect there will be roles that currently exist that absolutely to all intents and purposes [will be] delivered by AI.”
Patrick Sullivan, CEO of think-tank Parliament Street, called the comments irresponsible. “Another day, another City chief scaremongering the workforce without due consideration for the consequences,” he said.
“What we need from finance chiefs is a clear action plan for how tools like AI will reshape the jobs market and turbocharge the economy.”
Kenny MacAulay, CEO of accounting platform Acting Office, added: “AI will undoubtedly replace jobs, but what’s never talked about is the new roles it will help create. The banking and finance industry is notorious for mismanaging tech deployments, creating expensive and ineffective IT estates.
“AI will indeed sweep away crumbling systems and streamline a new wave of productivity. But these systems will still need to be reviewed, fine-tuned and modelled, leading to an eventual net gain in job creation.”
Thwaite’s comments come after other bank CEOs have sounded the alarm about AI deployment and its impact on the workforce. Morgan Stanley forecast in December that 200,000 European banking jobs could be cut by 2030 as a result.
Standard Chartered boss Bill Winters also came under fire last month and was forced to apologise after describing employees facing cuts as “lower-value human capital”.
As he announced plans to sweep away almost 8,000 back-office jobs by 2030, Winters said: “It’s not cost-cutting. It’s replacing, in some cases, lower-value human capital with the financial capital and investment capital we’re putting in.”
According to a report from Boston Consulting Group, retail lenders could rake in $370bn-worth of extra profits annually from AI, with the group estimating its use can reduce banks’ costs by as much as 40 per cent.
“AI isn’t just an efficiency play; it’s a catalyst for business model transformation,” said Holger Sachse, a managing director at the consultancy.