Why ibankers are going to lose their jobs

Finance on Wall Street, especially ibanking, has been hailed by high schoolers to senior level executives as THE way to make money. Although stressful, the glamour and money involved with the job entices people of all backgrounds.

However, a recent update in the industry, fintech, is threatening investment banking as a whole. According to UBS COO Axel Lehmann, certain jobs will be completely eliminated due to the development of AI.

We’ll have different jobs and the skill levels of those people will be different. Of course, there will likely be eliminations of some process functions. The more you implement robotics and automation, that will in part substitute processes that humans are doing today. However, I do think that probably what will happen is we will then see a significant increase in productivity and efficiency.

Is it really a wise move for rising undergraduates to major in finance when automation is taking over the industry? Are current employees being threatened in the next five to ten years? Do you really believe that AI can take over investment banking, or is there a significant need for humans?

Source: Business Insider

10 Comments
 

Probably has to do more with top college grads going for more tech related/entrepreneurial/startup jobs rather than IB/finance. I'd be shocked if banks were actually taking less people.

 

I am seeing a push down. At the same time, I'm hearing more about other students to lower ranked schools getting multiple offers. Now that Wall Street no longer has a monopoly on the promise of being ultra-rich someday they're having to fight harder for the top students. I don't think they've quite caught on to that yet.

 

Yeah at my b-school banking was seen as the last resort for those who couldn't get anything better. Classmates openly mocked banking, as if it was the professional equivalent of Dante's ninth circle of hell.

The ones in my class who wanted banking all got it. Bulge brackets and elite boutiques hired a good number from my school, so if that's your goal, and you hustled hard, you most likely would get it.

Banks are aware of this talent problem and have raised their pay accordingly. Standard post-MBA comp is now $125k base+$50K signing.

 

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