The "Uber moment" in finance that the former CEO of Barclays warned about recently is already happening — 11 big banks have cut a combined 10% of their staff this year.
Analysis by the Financial Times shows almost 100,000 banking jobs were cut this year, equivalent to 10% of the combined staff of the 11 big European and US banks that announced cuts.
They include HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Credit Suisse. Barclays and BNP Paribas are expected to add to cuts early in the new year.
The analysis comes just weeks after Antony Jenkins, who until July was CEO of Barclays, warned in a speech that up to 50% of banking jobs could be replaced by apps and algorithms over the next 10 years.
Jenkins' argument rests on the rise of fintech — financial technology — startups who do things like payments, lending, and investments in a smarter, cheaper, and often faster way.
Jenkins believes fintech startups will "disrupt" financial services in the same way that Uber has disrupted the taxi industry. That will squeeze profit margins, forcing banks to cut staff, and also force them to compete on technology, another change that will reduce headcount.