Robotisation will lead to fewer jobs within financial services industry

Almost half of those working in the financial services sector (47%) are convinced that robotisation will lead to far fewer jobs within the industry in the UK. In addition to the fact that robotisation will have a significant impact on employment, employees also expect that artificial intelligence (36%) and the arrival of big data (36%) will lead to a significant reduction in the number of jobs.

The FinTech Barometer by Onguard, the fintech firm that focusses on the order to cash process, surveyed more than 1,000 finance professionals in the UK has also revealed that over a quarter of respondents (27%) think it is most important that finance professionals now develop their adaptability.

Despite the fact that finance workers are convinced that the number of jobs in financial services will drastically decrease, they do not expect their own job to be on the line with 87% certain that their job will still exist in ten years’ time. This confidence extends to their current employer: 74% are convinced that the organisation where they currently work will still be in business over the next decade. However, according to the survey, the significant changes taking place within the finance sector lead almost half of respondents (43%) to believe that ten years from now, financial institutions will have transformed into IT companies.

Marieke Saeij, CTO Onguard said “It is true that we are seeing some jobs disappearing due to the arrival of robotisation and artificial intelligence. Administrative processes are becoming more automated and that means less manpower is needed in the back office of organisations,”

“This does not mean, however, that these people cannot provide value in another role. As artificial intelligence is software, it requires other elements, such as data. Therefore, software programmers and data analysts become indispensable thanks to the advent of these new technologies. The potential increase in demand for data analysts is echoed by 30% of our survey respondents who believe it is most important for finance professionals to develop their analytical ability.”