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🛟 AI is Reshaping the Banking Workforce – Will 200,000 Jobs Really Go?

From Goldman’s GS Assistant to JPMorgan’s 90% reduction to Bank of America's Erica. Layoffs began last year and are accelerating.

Author

Abbie Widin
April 15, 2025

👋 Welcome, thank you for joining us here :)

The AI Check In is your weekly power play to navigate AI governance and strategy in banking and finance.

What to expect this edition:

  • 🛟 Need to Know: What oversight is needed amid AI-driven workforce restructuring

  • 🥷 Deep Dive: AI-Driven workforce restructuring in U.S. banking

  • Instruments of Mastery: UiPath: precision automation in U.S. banking

  • 📈 Trends to Watch: AI-driven job restructuring accelerates across U.S. banks

Rewrite the rules. Outmaneuver competitors. Stay two steps ahead of regulators.

Let the games begin.

🛟 Need to Know: What Oversight Is Needed Amid AI-Driven Workforce Restructuring

AI deployment is accelerating structural workforce shifts across U.S. banking. Regulatory agencies are responding. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has announced Virtual Office Hours with its Office of Financial Technology on May 6-8, 2025, to encourage responsible innovation in the federal banking system, including reducing barriers to AI adoption. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has increased scrutiny of algorithmic bias, with a particular focus on lending origination and credit scoring systems.

Banks are beginning to adapt. Citigroup and Bank of America have established internal AI ethics committees. JPMorgan Chase has embedded model validation and ethics reviews into its broader AI governance framework.

The direction is clear. Institutions implementing AI in workforce-critical functions must have auditable, board-approved oversight. That includes risk controls for new roles such as prompt engineers, model validators, and AI policy leads. Workforce transformation involving AI may raise disclosure obligations under SEC guidance or introduce new employment risk categories. CFOs should also review potential legal exposure.

🥊 Your Move:

  • Strengthen Oversight Architecture: Ensure governance frameworks include model validation, bias monitoring, and controls tailored to AI-enabled job functions.

  • Establish Executive Accountability: Assign clear ownership of AI workforce governance to a designated C-suite leader with board reporting obligations. Boards must also track internal sentiment data as reskilling efforts accelerate. Operational silence does not imply cultural stability.

  • Align with Regulatory Priorities: Embed CFPB scrutiny points—fairness, explainability, and audit trails—into internal processes and documentation.

🥷 Deep Dive: AI-Driven Workforce Restructuring in U.S. Banking

Structural Shifts and Strategic Realignments

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into the U.S. banking sector is prompting significant workforce restructuring. Institutions are re-evaluating operational models to enhance efficiency and maintain competitiveness.​

  • Goldman Sachs plans to cut 3-5% of its global workforce in spring 2025 as part of its annual performance review cycle, following a smaller reduction in late 2024, as it seeks operational efficiencies. The bank has rolled out the GS AI Assistant to 10,000 employees to support productivity gains, while year-to-date revenues are up 6% as automation plays a growing role in streamlining costs.

  • Morgan Stanley: Announced plans to reduce its workforce by approximately 2,000 positions, equating to 2–3% of its global staff. This move is part of a broader strategy to improve operational efficiency and adapt to technological advancements, including increased automation.

  • Bank of America: Over 90% of its 213,000 employees utilize "Erica for Employees," an AI-driven virtual assistant. This tool has reduced calls to the IT service desk by more than 50%, exemplifying AI's role in streamlining internal processes

  • JPMorgan Chase: Developed "Cash Flow Intelligence," an AI-powered tool that has decreased manual work for corporate clients by nearly 90%. The bank has invested in over 150 data scientists and engineers to enhance its machine-learning capabilities. ​

Talent Acquisition and Skill Development

The rapid adoption of AI necessitates a workforce equipped with new skill sets. Financial institutions are investing in training and hiring to meet these demands.​

  • IBM Study: Found that 50% of banking and financial markets CEOs are hiring for roles that did not exist the previous year due to the rise of generative AI. Additionally, 53% of respondents reported challenges in filling key technology positions, highlighting a skills gap in the industry.

  • JPMorgan Chase: Employs approximately 17.5% of the banking sector's AI talent pool across 240 distinct roles and titles. The bank's early investment in AI research and restructuring has positioned it as a leader in AI adoption within the financial industry.

CFOs should expect increasing compensation inflation for AI-literate roles and lateral movement between banks as competition intensifies.

Operational Efficiency and Client Service

AI technologies are being leveraged to enhance both back-office operations and client-facing services.​

🥊 Your Move:

  • Assess Workforce Impact: Conduct a thorough analysis of how AI integration affects various roles within your organization. Identify positions that can be augmented or redefined to align with technological advancements.​

  • Invest in Skill Development: Implement training programs to upskill existing employees, focusing on areas such as data analysis, AI technologies, and strategic thinking. This approach addresses the skills gap and prepares the workforce for AI-driven operations.​

  • Enhance Operational Efficiency: Leverage AI tools to streamline internal processes, reduce manual workloads, and improve client services. Monitor the impact of these technologies to ensure they align with organizational goals and regulatory standards.​

⚔️ Instruments of Mastery: UiPath - Precision Automation in U.S. Banking

UiPath's AI-powered automation platform is being utilized by U.S. financial institutions to enhance operational efficiency and accuracy.

Notable implementations include:

  • People's United Bank: Employed UiPath to automate processes during mergers and acquisitions, reducing the time to compare and merge 8,000 customer profiles from several weeks to under 48 hours. Additionally, approximately 6,850 hours were automated to support Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan processing.

  • Suncoast Credit Union: Leveraged UiPath's AI features to increase the number of checks processed daily by over 1,000%, resulting in a reduction of fraud losses by approximately $800,000 within six months.

  • Florida-Based Community Bank: A leading bank utilized UiPath to automate wire transfer fraud detection, enabling faster processing and improved compliance with regulatory requirements.

As always, boards should confirm whether AI vendor governance policies include audit rights, model transparency clauses, and operational continuity guarantees.

🥊 Your Move:

  • Identify High-Impact Areas: Assess operations for repetitive, rule-based tasks where automation can significantly reduce processing time and errors.​

  • Enhance Fraud Detection: Implement AI-driven automation to monitor transactions, increasing the speed and accuracy of fraud detection mechanisms.​

  • Streamline M&A Processes: Utilize automation to expedite customer data integration during mergers and acquisitions, minimizing disruption and maintaining service quality.

A Bloomberg report indicated that investment banks could eliminate as many as 200,000 jobs within the next three to five years, with support and operations roles being most at risk. Tomasz Noetzel, a senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, stated, "Routine, repetitive tasks are at risk, but AI will not eliminate them fully, rather it will lead to workforce transformation."

Major U.S. banks are implementing AI to restructure roles at scale. As reported above, Morgan Stanley plans to cut 2,000 jobs—roughly 2.5% of its workforce—with AI cited as a contributing factor. JPMorgan Chase is investing over $1 billion annually in AI, shifting it from a cost-saver to a central business driver. Bank of America’s internal AI assistant, “Erica for Employees,” has reduced IT service desk call volume by more than 50%. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs intends to scale AI capabilities among its 12,000 developers.

These examples signal that AI initiatives are moving beyond pilot phases and into enterprise-wide deployment. AI is no longer relegated to back-office tasks—it is being embedded across compliance, risk, lending, and customer operations.

What Comes Next:

  • Bank earnings calls referencing AI as a margin growth lever

  • Executive hires with AI in the title (e.g. Chief AI Risk Officer)

  • Internal audit adjustments to account for AI workflows

  • Shifts in hiring by state (see next week’s AI Check In newsletter)

🥊 Your Move:

  • Benchmark AI Activity: Compare internal investment and staffing against JPMorgan and Goldman’s AI benchmarks.

  • Prioritize Operational Pilots: Focus AI deployments on measurable outcomes like IT support, fraud detection, and compliance automation.

  • Monitor Workforce Impact: Track role redundancy trends to inform talent strategy and internal communication plans.

🔮 Next Week

Next week, we map the battleground: Which U.S. states will lead in AI financial regulation—and which will become free-market AI zones luring institutions with light-touch oversight?

Yours,

Disclaimer

This newsletter is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered financial, legal, or investment advice. Some content may include satire or strategic perspectives, which are not intended as actionable guidance. Readers should always consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on the material presented.