A quarter of the workforce in the financial sector, equivalent to 37,500 jobs, has been eliminated since 2001 due to restructuring and technological advancements.
Over the past decade, more than 15,000 jobs have been lost, with most cuts affecting BNP Paribas Fortis, ING, and KBC.
These three major banks are responsible for over 10,000 of the eliminated positions.
Between the first quarter of 2001 and the third quarter of 2025, employment in the financial and insurance sector dropped from 145,200 to 107,700, according to data from the National Accounts Institute (ICN), analysed by the Belgian financial newspaper L’Echo.
This constitutes a 26% workforce reduction in less than 25 years. The ICN data, spanning three decades, does not show a lower level of employment in this sector during the period.
The financial sector’s decline is second only to agriculture, which has seen a 30% drop in employment since 2001.
Even the industrial sector, with a 23% decrease, has fared better than finance in terms of job losses.
