Anthony Jenkins, the former Barclays Bank boss who last year forecast a 50% cut in bank branches and staffing due to digital upheavals in the sector, is setting up his own fintech venture.
According to the Mail on Sunday, Jenkins told a meeting in Parliament last week that he had reviewed 100 fintech businesses and met 50, although he declined to be drawn on the exact nature of the venture.
Ousted from Barclays in July last year, Jenkins has become a passionate advocate of the need for radical tech-driven change in traditional banking practices.
In his talk to the the New City Agenda think-tank, he repeated forecasts made in November last year that the world's banks will be forced to axe up to half of their staff and close 50% of branches over the next ten years, billing the coming upheavals as banking's 'Uber moment'.
"Large banks will fragment as they seek to protect the profitable parts of their operations, leaving behind a zombie core," Jenkins told last week's meeting. "I estimate in this phase that as many as 20 to 50 per cent of jobs and up to half of branches could go."