TPBank has, for a second year, cut its payroll and increased the use of automation for certain tasks.
“We are not reducing service quality by lowering our staff number,” Nguyen Hung, its CEO, said.
“On the contrary, nearly 500 automation robots have taken over simple tasks, allowing employees to focus on creative and high-value work for customers.”
The head of a state-owned bank, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said every branch of his bank used to require several people to compile data and generate reports, but following its recent adoption of AI, secretaries who only performed such simple jobs were no longer necessary.
Singaporean lender UOB’s Vietnamese subsidiary has also joined the trend of replacing humans with technology.
Its account-opening department used to have 10 employees but now operates with just two or three since customers can easily set up their accounts online.
A VnExpress survey of 28 banks revealed that although staff reductions were not widespread last year, some lenders made strong cuts in their human resource to boost digitalization.
Of the eight banks that have trimmed their payroll, state-owned BIDV leads with the layoff of 1,100 workers, followed by VIB (480) and Sacombank and ACB (over 350 each).
Nguyen Thi Quynh Phuong, director of HR solutions at recruitment consulting firm Talentnet, said the layoffs have been driven by individual banks’ business strategies and not triggered a domino effect.
“The changes in staff number might be a short-term reaction to economic pressures, but they are also signs of a major strategic shift in the industry: from traditional models to partial or even complete digitalization.”
The deputy CEO of a state-owned bank said that the rapid advancement of technology would eventually leads to bigger layoffs in the banking industry.
Already 99% of transactions at his bank are conducted electronically, and it has also slowed its branch expansion in cities since most people there use digital services, he said.
“Demand for tellers will drop significantly in the next one or two years. Roles like call center agents and administrative staff may also shrink.”
The changes in how banking transactions are made are also having an impact on job recruitment.
For students and professionals looking to switch fields, acquiring new skills or upgrading existing ones is now essential to help them get a job in banks.
Talentnet analysts said employees might be concerned about job security and banks therefore need to motivate their employees by communicating clearly on why the changes are needed and how employees can adapt to digitalization to improve their productivity.
Hung expected layoffs to continue until 2030 when lenders will achieve optimal automation and deeply integrate technologies such as AI and blockchain.
By then many jobs will be fully replaced by AI, mostly in transactions, manual document processing and administration, he said.
“But digitalization will also create a huge demand for high-quality talent in technology, data analysis and customer experience design.”
The chief of a top bank said though technology would struggle to replace staff who interact directly with customers, in these changing times they need higher capabilities and qualifications.
“Tellers today are not just counting cash or inputting data; they are supposed to be financial consultants, salespeople and tech supporters who help customers optimize their cash flow.”
