Expert: Fintech will Reduce Jobs in Conventional Finance Business

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - University of Indonesia's (UI) Professor of Management Rhenald Kasali predict that the rapid development of financial technology (fintechs) reduce the number of workers in the financial industry. He highlighted how most banks have now ceased from opening conventional, physical branches.

He said that there would be little need for bank tellers, as customers have rarely go to a bank conduct financial transactions.

"Next year, the financial sector will have to fight hard, because there are now already 200 newly-registered fintechs. There is no clear regulation yet, but they have started to collect money from the public," Rhenald said at the Manpower Ministry building here on Monday, November 19.

He predicted that, in order to survive in the digitalization era, banks will embrace financial technology. "Banks will establish subsidiaries and partner with fintechs. Fintechs don’t require many employees, maybe 30-50 people at most," he said.

He projects that in the short term, the role of fintech will increase, and employment in the banking sector will begin to decrease, until fintechs become more optimal.

"Today, banks haven’t started to reduce workers, but they're not exactly hiring new ones either," he remarked.

He said that banks must start to up-skill and re-train their workers, so that they will have the required competencies to compete in the digital era.

He said that old jobs could survive, as long as the worker familiarize and equipped themselves with the application of technology. "Jobs that we know in the 20th century will slowly be replaced by new technology-based jobs," he said.

ANTARA