Deutsche Bank chief executive John Cryan once mooted replacing as many as half his 98,000 staff with robots. His dramatic ousting last weekend means he will not be held to that promise, but investors need not look far for other bankers talking up the potential of artificial intelligence to revolutionise an industry that has struggled with profitability in the decade since the financial crisis.

Former Citigroup chief Vikram Pandit — reborn as a fintech evangelist — predicted 30 per cent of banking jobs could be wiped out by AI in five years. Mizuho Financial Group in Japan says it will use AI to replace 19,000 people by 2027 — about a third of its workforce.

Almost every big name consultancy has published research on how AI will transform banking. KPMG went one step further with its vision of an ‘invisible bank’ where “enlightened virtual assistants” replace people at all points of customer interaction.