DHAKA: Half of banking jobs and branches could be scrapped in the next 10 years as smaller start-up firms take on traditional lenders, according to a former bank chief executive.

Big lenders will struggle to keep up with technological change, former Barclays boss Antony Jenkins said, reports the BBC.

For Barclays that would mean the loss of 66,000 jobs globally and 700 UK branches.

Jenkins added that high pay for bankers was coming to an end.

‘The number of branches and people employed in the financial services sector may decline by as much as 50% over the next 10 years, and even in a less harsh scenario I predict they will decline by at least 20%,’ Jenkins said in a speech.

Jenkins was implementing a cost-cutting drive at Barclays, involving the loss of thousands of jobs, when he was fired in the summer.

He described finance as getting close to an ‘Uber moment’, referring to the taxi firm which is causing disruption among traditional private hire firms.

Technology was ‘an unstoppable force’, he said in the speech.

A large amount of capital is being invested in the new firms, he said, and they could soon become household names among their customers.

What is stopping the very fast changes seen in industries such as taxi hire, is regulation and other hurdles, which limit new entrants into finance.

BDST: 2050 HRS, Nov 26, 2015
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