Cape Town - The fear of bank jobs being lost to automation appeared very real last week in the run-up to the bank strike which was called off at the last minute after a court interdict.
The future of banking in South Africa is being driven partially by international trends and technologies.
Opinion from experts is divided when it comes to how much of an effect automation will have.
Andrea Tucker, Research and Development Head at e4, a technology company specialising in digitisation, said: “New entrants to the local market say they are able to scale quicker, without being hampered by legacy systems, and in customer-speak, promise to deliver a seamless online client on-boarding experience without ever having to set foot in a branch.
“Incumbent banks have taken
on the challenge head on - and have invested heavily in digital strategies and new technologies, all in the
interest of becoming more competitive.”
The Human Sciences Research Council’s Democracy, Governance and Service Delivery research programme found in a recent survey that there is broad-based recognition among the public that automation will have a bearing on the workplace, and a sizeable majority of the employed are concerned that it will affect them.
Speaking about the future of automation in banking, Danie van Tonder, chief executive of Fintec Group, an innovation hub using technology to solve real-world challenges, said: “Technology has been displacing bank workers for a while now, but it has gone largely unnoticed.
“What is apparent is that traditional banking staff (enquiries clerks, tellers, relationship managers, etc) are being displaced by technology workers, both internally and externally.”
Meanwhile, Paul Morgan, business unit leader for data, planning, and analytics at Altron Karabina, said:
“Automation and AI will massively impact the shape of the modern workplace, and companies should see this as an opportunity to re-skill employees for the digital age. The potential this has in the South African job market is significant.
“Unfortunately, blaming technology has often been an easy way out for those companies embarking on retrenchments, when instead the issues are much broader than that.”
@MwangiGithahu