Deutsche Bank CEO hints at replacing staff with robots to cut costs

John Cryan could use artificial intelligence to automate banking tasks

Whilst some believe the banking industry is under threat from automation, others believe it's an opportunity (Reuters)

Deutsche Bank chief executive John Cryan has indicated that he is ready to replace thousands of workers with robots as he looks to cut costs with artificial intelligence.

The German bank currently employs 97,000 people and in an interview with the Financial Times on Wednesday, Mr Cryan said comparable rival lenders employed “half that number”.

He added that the ratio between front office staff and back office staff at Deutsche was “out of kilter” and suggested technology could help the bank to become more efficient.

“There we’ve got the most to gain,” he said. “We’re too manual, which can make you error-prone and it makes you inefficient. There’s a lot of machine learning and mechanisation that we can do.”

Deutsche Bank announced in October 2015 that it would cut 9,000 jobs and cease operating in 10 countries as part of restructuring plans. Since then it has cut 4,000 jobs.

Other banks are grappling with how to make best use of artificial intelligence, and for some, technology could replace a sizeable amount of jobs sooner rather than later.

Vikram Pandit, who was chief executive of Citigroup during the financial crisis said in September that advances in technology could slash the number of jobs in banks by 30 per cent in the next five years.

Mr Pandit said introducing robots could save the need to hire people in back-office roles.