The quotes are certain to raise eyebrows among bankers, everywhere. The Vice President of Sberbank, Russia’s biggest bank by assets and the third largest bank in Europe (2014 figures) has opined that the advent and spread of blockchain technology will see banks disappear by 2026.
Speaking at Metro Expo 2016, an industry conference, Sberbank’s vice president Andrey Sharov shared his thoughts about the future of the banking industry.
With quotes reported by Russian news agency , Sharov predicts that the rise of blockchain technology will lead to the demise of the current banking industry as the way we know it to be.
The Vice President of Russia’s largest bank stated: In 10 years, I fear that banks will not be around and I will have nowhere to go to work. Now, there are peer-to-peer lending platforms and those developing payment systems, based on blockchain technology. Incredibly, the banking executive then went on to state that the Bank of England had established a banking consortium of 50 banks to work on blockchain solutions for the financial industry. As readers will be well-aware, the only banking consortium of such numbers that sees blockchain-based research and proof-of-concept solutions, is that led by New York-based blockchain startup, R3.
Sharov stated: The Bank of England made a consortium of 50 English banks – those that are completely rebuilt on a model based on blockchain technology. I won’t have any place to work at. The opinion echoes that of Antony Jenkins, former group CEO of Britain’s biggest bank, Barclays. In a speech last year, Jenkins predicts a future wherein financial technology, led by innovations such as blockchain, will severely disrupt the current banking system. The former banking executive predicts that those employed in banking institutions will be reduced by at least 20% in the coming ten years, if […]
