Emerging technologies are poised to take roughly a third off the current workload of employees at banks, according to McKinsey & Co. The shift, the report suggests, is already is causing angst on Wall Street, and may only take a few years before this prediction comes to fruition.

Cognitive technologies, or machines that perform human tasks – have become cheap enough for banks to deploy them throughout their organisation. McKinsey said that automating tasks will “free up capacity” for staff to focus on higher-value work, such as research, generating new ideas or tending to clients.

“This is really starting to take steam and it’s going to transform the industry over the next two to three years,” Jared Moon, a McKinsey partner who co-wrote the report, said in an interview. These cognitive technologies are estimated to free up 20 to 30% of employees’ capacity in units processing trades.

Automation has not unanimously been welcomed with open arms. Workers worry they will be replaced by machines that can do their job for them, at a fraction of the cost.that can However, this won’t be the reality.

“This helps free up valuable subject experts to do more,” Moon said. “It will require people to use new skill sets, taking away manual work but allowing more around analytics, transformation and change.”

Indeed, Jamie Dimon, the chairman and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co welcomes this next stage, stating that technology creates opportunities while keeping costs at bay.

McKinsey’s report said that those banks that embrace automation will become more efficient, innovative and nimble.

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