US bank, Citi has forecast that as many as a third of bank staff will lose their jobs over the next ten years, as a result of the fintech boom.

Citi’s report ‘Digital Disruption,’ forecasts that US and European banks will slash around 1.7 million jobs by 2025 as the banking sector in its traditional form succumbs to digitisation.

The report said that while banks won’t be replaced, branches will and it’s staff are at risk of job cuts.

Fintech start-ups are placing an increasing amount of bank workers at risk, with braches losing out to new technology which will enable customers to do more online and mobile banking.

Compiled by Citi’s Global Perspectives and Solutions (GPS) division, the report discusses the threat of the ‘disintermediation’, or the removal of intermediaries, at the hands of non-bank competitors, as a result of fintech start-ups and non-traditional financial services, also highlighting the increasing investment interest in the sector.

The report details the varying trends between regions, particularly in Asia where the shift from physical to digital financial flows in China has progressed extortionately to 96% of e-commerce sales done without a traditional bank.

Citi GPS managing editor Kathleen Boyle is confident in the future of financial banking, stating that fintech will expand beyond a point of return in the immediate future.

“Incumbent financial institutions still have the upper hand in terms of scale and we have not yet reached the tipping point of digital disruption in either the US or Europe,” she said.

“Given the growth in fintech investment, this isn’t likely to continue for long.”