This week NFU publishes expert insights to the disruptive forces of the digital transition in the nordic finance sector written by seven trade union representatives in policy, politics and research. Each opinion piece is a written summary of a presentation given at the NFU Policy Affairs Forum on the 9-10th of April 2018.

Cooperation between trade unions in the Nordic bank and insurance sectors is a necessity if we are to face today’s sectoral challenges: regulation, implementation, compliance, trust, digitalization, automation and sustainability. Together the NFU member unions outline the employee perspective in finance and we hold a unique insight to its effectiveness and sustainability. Through our combined strength of affiliated unions in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland we represent the majority of Nordic employees in a rapidly evolving finance sector. Subsequently, the result of our combined efforts improves the situation for all employees in the Nordic financial sectors.

The current technological transformation including fintech, automation, AI, and robo-advice brings both challenges and empowering new ideas to finance. These virtual humans, notably enough all female and Caucasian, are at the forefront of a development that has been taking shape in the sector for several years and is now picking up speed. However, as pointed out by Bloomberg in 2017: service and bias may be equally challenging to these new digitalized algorithms as they are for humans. This realization has brought the finance sector ‘back to basics’, and is forcing attention to corporate culture, job growth, and employee empowerment as we enter 2018. The competences of trade unions are and will continue to be essential for the relevance of that industrialization.

The NFU Policy Affairs Forum 2018 is over but the issues continue to be relevant. Concludingly, more efficient sectoral policy work for a wellbeing sector means: to continue dialogue and knowledge-sharing on the future of work and employability. That impact builds on knowledge and research that is actively shared among the member unions. And meaningful cooperation is built on the personal meeting between trade unionists to share experiences and expertise. In particular, to share good examples of meeting new needs of the unions and their members, working together to stay relevant through the digitalized transition of the sector.

Photos: Emelie Weski

This is a written summary of a presentation given by Emelie Weski, Head of EU Affairs at the NFU, on the 9-10th of April 2018 at the NFU Policy Affairs Forum. An event for secretariat staff with expertise in, or with a role connected to, sectorial and industry policy affairs. The overarching theme was: the disruptive impact of the fourth industrialization on the financial service sector. The purpose of the forum was to provide participants with the chance to exchange expertise and experiences on key finance sector topics while stimulating future cooperation and coordination on sectoral policy issues.  Several interesting proposals on how to follow up and improve coordination to increase the effect of shared policy work were proposed by the participants as a result.

For more information contact ewe@nordicfinancialunions.org