“US banks have operated at cost/income ratios of 55 per cent-60 per cent for the better part of 30 years; internet banking and then mobile banking have failed to move the dial. Part of the reason is that new channels don’t immediately displace old, so banks are compelled to operate parallel cost structures.
But the picture might finally be changing as branch closures accelerate and productivity improvements materialize. In the UK, the number of bank and building-society branches fell by 31 per cent in the five years to 2022, compared with a drop of only 13 per cent in the previous five years, according to government data. And although the numbers are not as stark in the US, the direction is similar: bank branches have shrunk 11 per cent in the past half-decade versus 6 per cent over the prior period.
Technology may be starting to have an impact on costs too. “We are deep into the large body of work of automating manual controls and processes,” Citigroup’s current CEO, Jane Fraser, told investors in October.
Pandit and Cryan lost their jobs long ago, but by cutting more, their successors may yet prove them right.”
https://www.business-standard.com/world-news/job-cuts-at-citi-deutsche-bank-show-the-future-has-arrived-on-wall-street-124020900373_1.html