The six largest banks on Wall Street eliminated 15,000 positions and reported $47 billion in profits. The CEOs ceased their pretense.

      In the first quarter of 2026, the six largest banks in the United States eliminated 15,000 jobs while reporting $47 billion in profits, an increase of 18 percent year over year. CEOs have openly attributed job cuts to artificial intelligence, with Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan stating that AI will lead to job losses and urging people to face the reality. Charlie Scharf from Wells Fargo remarked that those denying AI's impact on headcount are either uninformed or not entirely truthful. Goldman Sachs circulated a memo about potential job cuts and a hiring freeze as part of its OneGS 3.0 initiative. Citigroup's workforce decreased by 2,000 in just one quarter, and Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan acknowledged AI's role in workforce reduction mere months after reassuring employees otherwise.

      The era of uncertainty has ended; the data from earnings calls is now clear.

      In terms of numbers, JPMorgan Chase plans to invest $19.8 billion in technology in 2026, an increase of $2 billion from the previous year. The bank reported a 6 percent rise in productivity in areas utilizing AI, which is double its previous rate. Operations roles were reduced by 4 percent and support roles by 2 percent, while positions related to client engagement and revenue generation increased by 4 percent. Dimon characterized this shift as a significant redeployment of staff, as the overall headcount has remained stable at approximately 318,500.

      Bank of America’s AI assistant, Erica, has resulted in savings equivalent to 11,000 full-time jobs, with nearly 90 percent of its 213,000 employees utilizing the internal tool. Additionally, AI has helped reduce 30 percent of labor in its coding process, leading to the loss of about 2,000 engineering jobs. The bank's quarterly profit reached $8.6 billion, attributed partly to workforce reductions and automation.

      Citigroup is undergoing a major restructuring, planning to reduce around 20,000 positions by the end of 2026, which amounts to roughly 8 percent of its global workforce. If the Banamex retail banking business is excluded, the total workforce could drop by approximately 60,000 to about 180,000. CEO Jane Fraser informed staff that AI and automation would allow the bank to operate middle-office and operational functions with fewer employees. Citi's AI technology is now utilized by 182,000 employees across 84 countries, with an adoption rate surpassing 70 percent.

      Goldman Sachs initiated its OneGS 3.0 program at the end of 2025, focusing on enhancing operations across sales, client onboarding, lending, regulatory reporting, and vendor management through AI. Staffing reductions have been planned for the second quarter, aiming for a decrease of 3 to 5 percent. Although CEO David Solomon has forecasted more employees for the long term, the internal memo suggests immediate cuts.

      Wells Fargo has reduced its workforce from 275,000 in 2019 to just over 210,000 by late 2025. AI-driven code generation tools have increased engineering teams' efficiency by 30 to 35 percent. Scharf noted that they have not cut coder positions but are achieving more output from the same staff. Internal budgets for 2026 already foresee a smaller workforce. AI is now creating instant creditworthiness evaluations and pitchbooks for mergers, roles historically held by mid-level investment bankers earning substantial salaries.

      The trend among all five banks is clear: profits are on the rise while headcounts are decreasing or being restructured. Productivity gains from AI are concrete and quantifiable, moving from speculation to realization, and CEOs have acknowledged the ongoing replacement of roles.

      Oracle plans to cut up to 30,000 jobs to finance the establishment of AI data centers, a move expected to generate $8 to $10 billion in annual cash flow for infrastructure investments. The banks are engaging in a similar strategy, investing heavily in AI technology and recouping their investments by reducing the workforce made redundant by these technologies. Unlike Oracle, however, which is creating data centers, the banks are simply purchasing software that enables them to operate with fewer employees.

      The productivity improvements are concentrated in specific job functions such as code generation, document processing, creditworthiness analysis, anti-money laundering investigations, pitchbook creation, regulatory reporting, and client onboarding, all of which can be partially or fully automated with current AI applications. These are not entry-level positions; they involve the work of analysts, associates, compliance officers, and mid-level technologists—roles that have historically been the backbone of financial employment.

      In the first quarter of 2026, projected AI spending per bank reached $177 million, marking a 33 percent increase from the previous quarter. Forty-two percent of U.S. financial firms intend to boost their internal AI investments by 50 percent or more. JPMorgan’s technology budget alone exceeds the total annual revenue of many enterprise software companies, while Goldman Sachs estimates 25 to