Dozens of Matrix Employees on Mizrahi Bank Project Replaced by AI Tools
The IT company Matrix, which has been leading the acceleration of the digital transition at Mizrahi Tefahot Bank for the past two years, is changing its work format at the bank. Dozens of employees will be transferred to other projects, some will be laid off, and AI tools will take over some of the tasks.
About two years ago, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank chose the IT company Matrix as the winning supplier for the "Digital Acceleration" project, intended to transfer many of the bank's assets to a digital format, including the development of mobile applications and the migration of banking operations to the website.
Matrix recruited about 150 employees for the project, but it has now emerged that around 40 of them will be transferred to other projects within the company and some employees will be laid off. The move comes against the backdrop of the introduction of AI tools by Matrix, alongside changes to the nature of the project agreed upon between the company and the bank. Globes has learned that a conversation was held between the parties after Matrix failed to meet the schedule, and at its conclusion, it was decided to change the work format.
Matrix is implementing AI in banks and among its clients in ways that make some manual work redundant, such as virtual service representatives, intelligent processing of forms, and systems for analyzing cyber threats. More and more banks in Israel are adopting AI software, prompting a rethinking of the number of employees in the organization. For example, the Israeli AI company Wonderful, which provides, among other things, a system for managing automatic service agents, is installed at Discount Bank and Bank Hapoalim.
Mizrahi Tefahot Bank stated: "The bank is in the midst of a process to upgrade its digital systems, while utilizing external suppliers. To this end, the bank outlined an accelerated development plan based on AI infrastructure, which it has implemented over the past year. The decision regarding the size of the teams and the individual staffing that will carry out the plan is not the bank's, but the suppliers'." Matrix stated: "We are continuously integrating AI technologies into a variety of projects. In this project as well, AI tools are being used as part of the company's professional toolkit."
