According to a Wells Fargo report, by lead author, Mike Mayo, the sector  will shed 10 percent of all of its jobs to lay the groundwork for"golden age of banking efficiency".

The job cuts are slated to hit front offices, call centres, and branches the hardest, where 20-30 percent of those roles will be on the chopping block. Better ATMs, automated chatbots will replace them, and software instruments that take advantage of big data and cloud computing to make investment decisions.

It is not rare that a report forecasts the imminent erosion of an industry's jobs picture, but it is a little rare that a prominent industry analyst is so proud of it.

If other banks follow Mayo and Wells Fargo, then you are looking at an automated arms race between companies to cut staff and purchase enterprise financial software products.

While the report is packed with buzzwords and promises of harnessing big data and predictive algorithms, there is no guarantee that these expensive programmes will work.

However, the banks are investing $150 billion in technology annually, so some of this might actually happen.