For Some Banks, FinTech Spawns Staffing Spree, Others Cut Jobs

In banking, there’s a hiring boom afoot, and it’s not at the teller’s window or to staff analysts’ cubicles.

Maybe.

To be specific, technology is in the crosshairs of some traditional financial services mainstays and has spurred job openings and hiring sprees.

To that end, SEB AB, reported Bloomberg, has been boosting its staffing roster to bring more efforts to bear on its digital banking services.

The bank is among Sweden’s largest and, according to its CEO Johan Torgeby, aims to take on as many as 1,500 people annually to staff tech initiatives, with a focus on positions in technology and what the executive termed “customer technology design.”

Thus, said Bloomberg, hiring within banking is increasingly focusing on tech-oriented skill sets. The firms need to compete with nimbler tech upstarts — and not necessarily small firms but marquee names like Apple.

But then again, some firms are actually trimming back positions. Nordea Bank, which is among the biggest firms in its region, is, in fact, shuttering 6,000 jobs, and that downsizing comes in tandem with digital initiatives. Senior management, stated the publication, has seen the trend tilt toward financial services as moving toward a staffing level that will have, net, fewer people.

In individual company tie-ups between financial institutions and FinTechs, SimplyFi, which offers crowdfunding for small and mid-sized firms in Russia, has linked with Tochka Bank to offer online lending for the latter’s business clients. The loan limits will be 500,000 rubles, which can be used for working capital or other purposes. The process, done wholly online, requires only a few documents, among them evidence of firm turnover. The investor base offering the loans is comprised of individuals and investment funds. The firms have said that the Tochka Bank integration with SimplyFi has been popular with retail and services companies.

In other news, CODE Investing has said it has entered into a long-term partnership with BNP Paribas Asset Management, boosting the BNP Paribas SME Alternative Financing platform.

The FinTech will, through its platform, offer loans that top out at £5 million, and the platform is initially slated to operate in the U.K., with an eye on expansion into other markets in Europe.

Also in Europe, iGTB (Intellect Global Transaction Banking), a corporate banking tech provider, and Banco Santander, have stated that they will join forces to implement iGTB’s Intellect Payments Services Hub. The pair stated that the hub will help banks in Central and Eastern Europe bring enhanced client services (through digital means) to corporate clients. The initiative expands a decade of work between the two firms and helps upgrade Santander’s own banking infrastructure. The hub, said the companies, allows for streamlined onboarding of new customers across a single location, which allows companies to see incoming and outgoing payments in one place.

In India, YES BANK said that it is rolling out new financial services for startups across the country — an initiative that stems from a partnership with Kerala Startup Mission, a government initiative that is geared toward supporting entrepreneurs. Reports in The Hindu Business Line last week said YES BANK and Kerala are debuting a number of corporate banking services for startups, including a new current account offering.