AI Fuels Staff Cuts in Banking and Boosts Code Output in Software Development

Major banks across the US and Europe report strong earnings while linking workforce reductions to artificial‑intelligence systems. Executives cite AI‑driven automation in back‑office tasks such as KYC, AML checks and credit‑file processing as a primary factor for cutting staff, with U.S. CEOs openly discussing “job‑to‑AI” strategies and European firms facing slower adoption due to stricter labour regulations.

A concurrent study of more than 800 enterprise developers shows that AI‑coding assistants are now used by 97 % of organisations, delivering eight extra work hours per week per engineer. The top 1 % of developers generate up to 46‑times more code than average, yet only about a third of firms have comprehensive governance frameworks, raising security and oversight concerns. Companies such as a South Korean fashion platform and the AI firm Anthropic report dramatic productivity gains, but also highlight growing gaps in code‑review processes and the need for human control over AI‑generated changes.