A further 15,000 jobs are set to go in the Dutch financial sector over the next five years, according to research by the state-run job centre UWV.

The job losses will come despite the improvement in the economy, the UWV says.

The financial sector – banks, pension funds, insurance companies and asset managers – lost some 38,000 jobs, or 9% of its workforce, since 2007.

One reason for the job losses is the increasing use of IT, as companies close branch offices to compensate for increasing online sales.

There will, however, be an increase in jobs focusing on control and supervision and in ‘big data’ experts who analyse client behaviour, the UWV says.