This is Happening: How Banks Must Prepare to Manage Digital Workers — Sumeet Chabria in American Banker

Managing the New Digital Workforce

Source: Summary of a paywalled American Banker article by Penny Crosman (July 10, 2025). Quotes are from the original article.

A shift is underway across the banking industry. JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, and BNY Mellon are exploring or beginning to deploy agentic AI software agents built on large language models that can act, decide, and learn with minimal human input.

Unlike past waves of automation, these “digital workers” don’t just process data; they collaborate, flag errors, and even audit human work. As Sumeet Chabria, CEO of ThoughtLinks, told American Banker, “Almost all banks are talking about agentic AI right now, discussing it in architectural teams within the company, and a few of them have already taken the first batch of AI agents into implementation.”

Early results are promising. AI agents can monitor transactions around the clock, perform compliance “four-eyes” checks, or verify data on trading desks, all tasks that once fell to junior analysts. But managing them demands a new kind of leadership. Human managers must now oversee systems that never rest, cannot empathize, and require continuous calibration rather than quarterly reviews.

Oversight shifts from motivation and mentorship to technical governance, continuous validation, and clear ethical guardrails. Early evidence suggests the payoff can be meaningful when executed well in some cases. Banks may see less linear headcount growth or reductions as operations scale, with people shifting toward higher value, creative, and strategic work.

Done well, the payoff is profound: banks can scale operations without expanding headcount, allowing people to focus on higher-value, creative, and strategic work.

But success depends on rethinking what management means: how performance is measured, how responsibility is shared, and how humans and AI agents collaborate as peers. In this new model, some managers will see their teams transformed: where they once led 300 people, they may soon oversee 30 humans and 200 AI agents.

What happens to those careers — to influence, advancement, and reward — when the workforce becomes digital?

Sumeet Chabria believes forward-thinking managers should be recognized.

“Over time, we should reward managers that adopt responsible technology,” he says. “It’s inevitable. This is happening. It’s just a matter of time.”