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Why do traders in investment banks feel their jobs are immune from AI, etc?

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21–30 of 232 posts

Re: Why do traders in investment banks feel their jobs are immune from AI, etc?

#21
post #18

Maybe with their work, labor costs are a relatively small portion of the product price?

Look up the comp ratios of some of the major investment banks. It can easily be 50%. As with all professional services firms, the biggest costs are people and real estate.

I think he's saying the money client pay to investment banks is a small compared to size of the deals bankers advice / underwrite etc.

Re: Why do traders in investment banks feel their jobs are immune from AI, etc?

#22
post #16
post #9

HN title is significantly different than the question the submission actually asks which is "why do TRADERS in investment banks . . . " and should be updated

In case the full title makes a difference it's "Why do traders in investment banks feel their jobs are immune from AI, automation, and deep learning?" cc @dang

It does make a difference. Investment banks employ traders sure, but "investment banking" as most people understand it is, M&A advisory, IPO underwriting, syndication and so on. These are relationship businesses first and foremost.

Re: Why do traders in investment banks feel their jobs are immune from AI, etc?

#23
post #14
post #2

Because investment bankers are just salespeople? Nobody is suggesting AI will replace salespeople in the near future. I could see there being fewer grunt analysts in the future, though.

> Nobody is suggesting AI will replace salespeople in the near future. Huh? For one, investment bankers are "just salespeople" in the same way doctors are just nurses. Second, everybody and their mother is suggesting AI will replace retail level salespeople in the future. In fact lots of places, from British supermarkerts (where you can bill and pay for your purchases yourself), to Amazon's Go experiment, and numerou…

I think grandparent is referring to salespeople as in "human specialized in marketing and selling special/expensive/complicated products one-on-one to entities", not wholesale retailers.

Re: Why do traders in investment banks feel their jobs are immune from AI, etc?

#24
post #21
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look up the comp ratios of some of the major investment banks. It can easily be 50%. As with all professional services firms, the biggest costs are people and real estate.

I think he's saying the money client pay to investment banks is a small compared to size of the deals bankers advice / underwrite etc.

But it is large compared to what the shareholders earn, and they are the ones ultimately pulling the strings. The days of the white-shoe partnership are long gone...

Re: Why do traders in investment banks feel their jobs are immune from AI, etc?

#25
> "Would you trust purchasing a house from a seller, without meeting/talking to them, or a single person before and throughout the purchase?"

You mean I can get an unbiased look at a house in peace, compare the numbers, look at the plans, measure the humidity and do my due diligence without a sales person breathing down my neck?

Hell yea. I'd pay premium for that.

Re: Why do traders in investment banks feel their jobs are immune from AI, etc?

#26

> "Would you trust purchasing a house from a seller, without meeting/talking to them, or a single person before and throughout the purchase?" You mean I can get an unbiased look at a house in peace, compare the numbers, look at the plans, measure the humidity and do my due diligence without a sales person breathing down my neck? Hell yea. I'd pay premium for that.

I found my apartment online. Set up the meeting. Negotiated the documents and corrected them where necessary. The broker I paid 10% of my first year's rent? Apparently he bought a ticket to Paris the morning of our closing.

Re: Why do traders in investment banks feel their jobs are immune from AI, etc?

#27

> "Would you trust purchasing a house from a seller, without meeting/talking to them, or a single person before and throughout the purchase?" You mean I can get an unbiased look at a house in peace, compare the numbers, look at the plans, measure the humidity and do my due diligence without a sales person breathing down my neck? Hell yea. I'd pay premium for that.

since a company is made up of people, and the performance of a company is closely tied to the ability of the management, and when you buy over the company you might be concerned about your affinity as an owner to the group of people that makes up management, then I think an investment banker fulfils the same role as an interviewer or a recruiter for a job candidate.

would you hire a person for your team just by looking at degree transcripts, LOC written, and the resume? maybe you would, but I'm not too inclined to do that.

Re: Why do traders in investment banks feel their jobs are immune from AI, etc?

#30
post #18

Maybe with their work, labor costs are a relatively small portion of the product price?

Look up the comp ratios of some of the major investment banks. It can easily be 50%. As with all professional services firms, the biggest costs are people and real estate.

Is that percentage high or low compared to the products of low skilled labor?
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