Spanish banks plan 3,000 voluntary exits as AI points to 30% staff cuts

Spanish banks plan 3,000 voluntary exits while AI threatens to cut staff by 30%

Santander and BBVA are already negotiating thousands of voluntary exits with the unions: 700 employees before summer, another 3,000 by the end of the year. This is not a cyclical adjustment: according to the latest sector forecasts, artificial intelligence will start reshaping headcount from 2027. The paradox is that banks had spent four years growing their net workforce.

More than 3,000 voluntary exits this year in Spain's major banks

Santander joined this month the round of negotiations already peine by BBVA. Both banks are seeking to slim down their structures through early retirement and incentivized redundancies. In total, Spain's major banks are expected to carry out more than 3,000 voluntary exits in 2025. The move contrasts with previous years: between 2021 and 2024 the combined headcount of the six largest banks grew slightly, after the collapse in branch numbers of the previous decade.

AI spares no one: redesign from 2027

The banks' internal plans place AI's biggest impact in 2027. Cuts of between 20% and 30% of current staff are being discussed, especially in operations, customer service and back office. It would not be the first scare: every wave of technology has promised fewer banking jobs, and in the end headcount held up. But this time the leap is qualitative: generative AI can automate tasks that previously required human analysis.

Some argue the trend is not new. Branch closures and digitalization have been producing staff surpluses for years. On this view, AI is merely the pretext to justify an adjustment that was already a foregone conclusion.

The contrast with the public sector is inevitable. While banks seek voluntary exits, the administration keeps growing its workforce without efficiency improving. Several analyses suggest that, rather than reducing public employment, AI is applied there in dribs and drabs and only for very specific tasks.

The irony of AI selling funds

While banks cut staff, customers already handle half of their transactions themselves at the ATM or in the app. The next stage is a synthetic voice calling you to sell you an investment fund. There is something tragicomic about the scene: the same technology that is wiping out jobs will be used to pressure customers from the other end of the phone.

Doubts remain about compensation. The unions are demanding dignified exits, but the figures leaking out –around 480 euros in benefits in some cases– are met with skepticism.

The timetable is set: 2025 will be the year of agreed adjustments; 2027, the year of AI's blow. Until then, the sector is waiting to see whether this time the promise of AI comes true or, like so many others, turns out to be just a scare.