Bank layoffs: players split over how bad it will be

Stockholm

WILL every second banker lose his or her job in the next decade? The answer to that question is probably "yes", according to the chief executive officer of Nordea Bank AB, Casper von Koskull. Others in the industry have made similar predictions, including former Citigroup Inc CEO Vikram Pandit. But not all bank executives take the same view.

At SEB AB, one of Sweden's four biggest banks, CEO Johan Torgeby said that there may even be more employees 10 years from now. Some positions will become redundant, but new roles will replace them and existing staff will be retrained. The key question is one of productivity and growth, he argued.