Changing Roles and Responsibilities of Bank Clerks in European Banks Caused by Artificial Intelligence (AI)
“AI is going to reshape every industry and every job.” – Reid Hoffman, Co-founder of LinkedIn
The question ”Can machines think?”, first raised by Alan Turing in the 1950s, is now a practical reality for all the industrial sectors; the banking sector being one of them. The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in European banking is one of the most significant transformations in the recent history. Generative AI (GenAI) and Machine Learning (ML) has reshaped the core banking industry.
According to Statista (2024) forecast, global AI value in fintech market is expected to surpass 79 billion U.S. dollars by 2030. While the strategic focus is often placed on the technical and economic aspects, the experience of the frontline employee – the bank clerk – is a critical factor in the success of this digital transformation, since they are the ones getting impacted the most by it.
According to the new study, which is based on an analysis of three previously conducted case studies from three large European financial institutions and a separate survey of 20 bank employees, the future of bank tellers is not disappearing, but evolving. The future looks like one in which their uniquely human skills – critical thinking, empathy, and judgment – will become more valuable than ever before. Instead of acting as autonomous agents that replace humans, AI tools are and will be used to augment employee capabilities and reduce their time spent on routine tasks.
Need for Skills and Training
“AI will not replace humans, but those who use AI will replace those who don’t.” – Ginni Rometty, Former CEO of IBM
With the bank clerks’ role evolving from ”doer” to ”reviewer”, their skillset should also expand. Thus, re-analysis of the skills needed for clerical positions is needed.
- Prompt Engineering and Digital Literacy: Clerks must be proficient in interacting with Large Language Models (LLMs). This includes having the knowledge of giving the right prompt and understanding of the AI-generated response.
- Critical Thinking and Risk Assessment: With AI generating drafts and summaries, the ability to critically evaluate information for accuracy and bias is needed. Clerks are needed to apply judgment to AI recommendations.
- Emotional Intelligence: With AI doing the basic client interactions and resolving most queries, the remaining human interactions will majorly involve high-emotion or high-complexity scenarios. Soft skills, once considered secondary to processing speed, are now core competencies.
From Manual Processing to Strategic Augmentation
“The future of AI is not about replacing humans, it’s about augmenting human capabilities.” – Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google
The primary impact of AI on clerical roles is the automation of routine, data-intensive tasks. Research indicates that clerks perceive AI as a powerful tool for improving productivity, thus allowing them to focus more on complex activities, but they still lack trust in AI when it comes to handling complex customer cases. In alignment with the clerks’ opinions, the goal of AI implementation is not full, end-to-end automation of a clerk’s job, but rather for automating specific, discrete tasks within a broader workflow that remains under human control.
The Dominance of Human Element
When it comes to customer satisfaction, human interaction is irreplaceable. The chatbots are designed to redirect complex or sensitive issues to human agents. Thus, the clerk’s role is transitioned from a first point-of-contact for general inquiries to a specialist in complex problem-solving and relationship management. The AI handles the transaction; the clerk handles the relationship.
Conclusion
The integration of Artificial Intelligence in European banking is not a story of human obsolescence, but one of collaboration and elevation. While AI is preferred as an augmentation tool, it is not trusted as an autonomous agent.
The modern bank clerk is no longer expected to do manual data entry and routine query handling. Instead, a new professional profile is emerging: one that serves as a strategic advisor, a compliance overseer, and an empathetic problem solver. The future of the bank clerk lies not in competing with the machine, but in mastering the art of the ”human-in-the-loop” since the purpose of AI is to support, not replace, human decision-making.
References:
Bhatia, D. 2025. Artificial Intelligence in Banking – Impact on Clerks’ Roles and Responsibilities– Theseus, Master thesis, Turku University of Applied Sciences
Statista. (2024). Artificial intelligence (AI) in fintech market size worldwide from 2023 to 2030. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1446269/ai-in-fintech-market-size-forecast/