The two big banks are investing heavily in the automation of procedures. But while one of the two is still expanding its army of robots, the other has already decommissioned some of the machines.

Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam last summer voiced a vision to have as many as 400 robots at the disposal of his bank. In December, arch rival UBS trumped him, introducing the 1,000th robot.

UBS added 500 robots to its workforce last year, mainly at the back offices. The robots are programmed to execute repetitive tasks and will reduce manual work by about 10 percent, according to a report by the «Business Insider» (behind paywall).

Switch Off 100 Robots

However, it emerges that in the meantime, the experience with robotic assistance is already in its next phase at Switzerland’s No. 1: UBS last year was able to switch off 100 robots again after it rewired procedures in a way that made human or robotic input unnecessary.