Unions to UK Banks: Get Ready to Retrain AI-Displaced Workers

Unions in the United Kingdom want the country’s banks to be ready to retain workers displaced by artificial intelligence.

At the U.K.’s Trades Union Congress next month, labor organizations will call on lenders, insurance and accounting firms to be prepared to assist millions of workers whose jobs could be impacted by AI, the Financial Times reported Tuesday (Aug. 27).

Accord, a union representing banking workers, is set to ask the industry to fund a “major” program to retrain many of its nearly 2.5 million workers when the labor movement holds its annual conference in September, the report said. The group pointed to a report from Citigroup which warned that half the jobs in the banking sector are threatened by automation.

“Congress notes with concern a report from June 2024 stating that up to 54% of banking jobs and 48% of insurance roles could be displaced by AI in the future,” an Accord motion published on the TUC website said, per the report. “AI-driven job displacement is predicted to be higher in financial services than in any other sector of the economy.”

As PYMNTS reported at the time of Citi’s findings, the banking giant argued that shifting to a “bot-powered world” raises issues related to compliance, security, regulation and ethics.

“Since AI models are known to hallucinate and create information that does not exist, organizations run the risk of AI chatbots going fully autonomous and negatively affecting the business financially or its reputation,” Citi said.

Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, one of the largest unions, said England is “falling behind” and needs to support “new technologies,” according to the FT report.

AI is already playing a role in some layoffs, with companies like Intuit, maker of TurboTax and QuickBooks, announcing last month that it was cutting 1,800 roles amid a new AI focus.

However, Intuit isn’t replacing those employees with AI bots; it plans to hire an equal number of workers with AI expertise.

Meanwhile, PYMNTS in April interviewed Javed Khan, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco Collaboration, who said “we’re already seeing the benefits that AI can bring to the workplace and beyond, empowering us all to reimagine how we connect and collaborate.”

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