This " Digital " Age !

Getting a job working in a bank used to be regarded as a " job for life ".  It used to be very similar to  the civil service in that years served had a lot to do with both promotions and seniority and banks were institutions that never seemed to change.   That is certainly not the situation today, and an announcement by one of Australia's four giant banks has set the scene for a massive disruption to work place numbers.

National Australia Bank ( NAB )  has announced that it will shed six thousand jobs which will represent eighteen percent of its present workforce.  This is despite it recently announcing that its annual profits edged 2.5 percent higher to reach a staggering $ 6.6 billion.   It seems that the role of banks is changing as we enter the " digital " age and the future will see less of things like main street branches and automatic teller machines.  In fact the continuation of notes and coins in the marketplace is in doubt.

At the same time NAB is shedding the people who interact with the public, it is busy recruiting an extra two thousand new employees with advanced technology skills.  It seems that this requirement level far exceeds the retraining capabilities of the staff it intends to sack and the bank has set aside between $500 million and $ 800 million for what it terms " restructuring costs " - a mix of the cost of shedding staff and providing help to assist them in finding a new job.

Many of our elderly ruefully remember the days when the banks opened on the dot of ten in the morning - and slammed the doors shut at precisely three in the afternoon, Monday to Friday.  Those were the days when we often got stuck in a bank queue when local small businesses banked their takings and the teller took ages to count the notes and coins - and it usually took several days before a banked cheque was " cleared " within the system.   Even a tax refund cheque had to undergo that process before the funds became available to the account holder.

We have been through the process of seeing bank branches closed and replaced with automatic teller machines and now the need to have ready cash in our wallets or purse is coming to an end.  Paying small bills in cash now poses a cost to merchants.  The banks are refusing to receive deposits over the counter at branches and require this money to be picked up and transported to a special facility by " money handling companies " - who charge for that service.

More and more small purchases are being paid by tapping a credit card - or even mobile phone - on a charging point to transfer the money from your bank account to that of the merchant.   This form of " digital " banking is set to become a required procedure in the near future and the structure of banks is changing to accommodate that change.

Few of the people facing the sack at NAB will be shocked at this announcement.   This is an inevitability that has been apparent for some time.  Also inevitable is a similar announcement from the other three big Australian banks that a similar procedure is being put in place.  A lot of well paid jobs will disappear and banking will become the preserve of those with an appropriate university degree.

An employment avenue is closing off for those who leave school with just the HSC and the expectation of acquiring further qualification within the banking industry !