What Finance Firms Tell Us They Need in the Age of AI

Three major 2024 surveys of banks, insurers, and asset managers tell the same story about AI skills in finance. The technology is in. The skills to handle it are not. Hiring managers across Europe and the UK say the attributes they want most from new finance hires are human, not technical.

The numbers from those surveys, plus a new UK skills report, sketch the gap. In the December 2024 EY European Financial Services AI Survey, 78% of finance leaders said their workforce lacks strong generative AI capabilities, and just 25% of firms had set up training programmes. The 2024 Bank of England and FCA survey found only 34% of UK financial services firms have a complete understanding of the AI they use. The Financial Services Skills Commission’s recent report warned AI could automate 30% to 50% of tasks in most finance roles.

What the Surveys Show

AI adoption in financial services is now the rule, not the exception. The 2024 Bank of England and FCA survey found 75% of UK financial services firms were using AI, up 17 percentage points from 2022, with a further 10% planning to use it within three years. The December 2024 European Financial Services AI Survey found 90% of European financial services firms have adopted AI to some degree and 72% of executives plan to lift GenAI investment over the next six to 12 months.

The training response is not matching the rollout. In the EY December 2024 survey, 78% of European finance leaders said their workforce has only some, limited, or no experience with the newest GenAI tools. Only 25% of firms have established GenAI training programmes; 43% say their plans are still in their infancy and 29% have no training programmes at all.

The Bank of England and FCA’s joint survey adds another layer to the picture. Foundation models account for 17% of UK AI use cases, 33% of use cases come from third parties, and 84% of firms have a person accountable for AI. Just 34% report a complete understanding of the AI they actually use, while 55% of AI use cases have some automated decision-making and only 2% are fully autonomous. The technology is in. The comprehension lags. More on the underlying numbers is in the 2024 AI in UK financial services survey.

• 75% of UK financial services firms are using AI (Bank of England and FCA 2024)
• 90% of European financial services firms have adopted AI to some degree (EY December 2024)
• 78% of European finance leaders say their workforce lacks strong GenAI capabilities (EY December 2024)
• 25% of European firms have established GenAI training programmes (EY December 2024)
• 34% of UK firms report a complete understanding of the AI they use (Bank of England and FCA 2024)

Why the Training Lag Matters

The training gap is showing up in the entry-level pipeline. In the EY December 2024 survey, 59% of European finance leaders said they expect AI to have a significant or transformative impact on the roles and tasks performed by those joining the workforce. Only 25% plan to integrate AI training into their graduate programmes, down from 35% in 2023.

A third of leaders, 35%, said they have taken no action at all to offset the AI impact on their junior staff, up from 28% in 2023. The Financial Services Skills Commission’s A Workforce Transformed report findings warn that AI could automate between 30% and 50% of tasks in most financial services roles. Entry-level positions are expected to be particularly exposed, and workforce planning will have to change as adoption scales.

The FSSC’s earlier 2023 report, Reskilling Everywhere All at Once, identified 13 priority future skills for the sector and found demand outstrips supply by 20% across UK financial services. Data analytics is the most in demand of those skills, with one in eight roles in financial services now requiring technology proficiency, double the wider economy rate. FSSC chief executive Claire Tunley has framed the change as depending on strong leadership, data quality, customer outcomes, and skills prioritisation.

The talent squeeze is already in motion. In EY’s December 2024 survey, the top concern named by 56% of finance leaders was limited understanding and experience of GenAI applications across the workforce. The training gap is the binding constraint on the rollout, and the firms that close it earliest will set themselves apart.

The Skills Hiring Managers Are Naming First

The attributes finance leaders say they want most are not the ones the headlines suggest. The EY December 2024 survey asked European finance leaders to rank the top attributes they will seek when recruiting entry-level talent for an AI-enabled workforce. The number one answer, cited by 77% of respondents, was the ability to adapt and flex. The second, at 70%, was having an innovative and experimental mindset.

The third was the ability to collaborate and work outside a strict focus area, at 44%. Tech savvy, at 34%, did not rank as a top priority this year. The pattern echoes what the FSSC’s 13 future skills framework shows.

The FSSC framework includes technical skills like software development, digital literacy, data analytics, and machine learning. Six of the 13 sit in the human camp: creative thinking, coaching, empathy, adaptability, relationship management, and teamwork. The technical skills are the floor. The human skills are the ceiling.

1. Ability to adapt and flex (77% of European finance leaders)
2. Innovative and experimental mindset (70%)
3. Collaborate across focus areas (44%)
4. Tech savvy (34%, no longer a top priority)

Where Human Judgment Still Beats the Algorithm

The case for human skills is not just a hiring preference. It is the defence against AI failure. Khadeeja Bassier, chief operating officer at asset manager Ninety One, has argued the industry is moving from a system that traded on information to one where judgment is the human edge. With AI generating floods of signals, the question becomes which of them actually matters.

Bassier, in commentary published by Ninety One for financial advisors, has argued AI is changing what advisors do but not what they are. She told a Ninety One IP Academy audience that the firms which endure are the ones that adapted to technological change, and that the Fortune 500 list from 1955 is mostly unrecognisable today. The lesson for finance is that technology should make advisors indispensable to their clients, with the human at the centre. Her full framing is in Ninety One’s AI commentary for advisors.

Advisors should view AI as a tool that allows them to concentrate on amplifying their strengths and delegating the areas that are time-consuming and less value-adding to AI.

The risk of over-relying on AI is real, and the data backs it. The Bank of England and FCA 2024 survey found 34% of firms have a complete understanding of the AI they use. If firms themselves do not fully understand the systems, the people using them need to be able to challenge the output. Bassier has suggested AI should perhaps have been called “Augmented Intelligence” instead.

The FSSC’s 2023 report noted one in eight financial services roles now require technology proficiency, double the wider economy rate. Knowing your financial fundamentals will still be crucial, because only then can you challenge the AI and orient it toward better answers. The technical and the human are not rivals. They are a stack, and the value sits at the top.

The pattern repeats across the data. Hiring managers in 2024 ranked adaptability and an experimental mindset as more important than tech savvy. The training programmes that exist focus more on the technical few than the workforce as a whole. The firms that rebalance this will be the ones hiring the next class.

How Business Schools Are Reshaping the Curriculum

Universities are starting to match the demand. The University of St. Gallen in Switzerland runs an executive education programme called Fit for Artificial Intelligence in Finance. The course, taught across five evening sessions in Zurich, covers deep learning and generative AI in retail banking, derivatives hedging, asset management, and algorithmic trading. The fee is CHF 1,950.

The lecturer line-up includes Lukas Gonon, assistant professor in AI in finance at the university’s Center for Financial Services Innovation. Industry lecturers include Michel Neuhaus of UBS on generative AI, Lukasz Opoka of UBS on deep learning case studies, Daniel Trzesniak of EY on practical GenAI use cases, and Martin Marciniszyn of NVIDIA on hardware. The premise matches the hiring data, with foundations first and case studies second. Course details sit on St. Gallen’s executive AI in finance course page.

The course design reflects the data on what firms want. It opens with foundational sessions on what AI and deep learning actually do, then moves to industry case studies. No prior AI experience is required, and the opening module, “AI: where we are today,” is taught by Gonon himself.

• Fit for Artificial Intelligence in Finance at the University of St. Gallen: five evening sessions in Zurich, CHF 1,950
• Lead academic Lukas Gonon, assistant professor of AI in finance, with industry lecturers from UBS, EY, and NVIDIA
• Emphasis on foundational AI understanding plus industry case studies, no prior AI experience required

What the Next Class of Financiers Should Be Learning

The data points to a synthesis, not a trade-off. In EY’s 2024 survey, the business area with the highest demand for AI talent was data science and innovation, at 54% of respondents. Back-office operations ranked second at 46%, up from 14% in 2023. Information technology ranked third at 40%, up from 24% in 2023.

The technical floor is rising. The six human skills the FSSC flags read like a list of things AI does not easily do, including creative thinking, coaching, empathy, adaptability, relationship management, and teamwork. The seven technical skills in the FSSC’s framework are what allow humans to use the machines well. Both halves matter, and FSSC’s Tunley has argued the sector’s success will hinge on treating skills as a strategic priority.

Bassier at Ninety One has argued the same from the buy side. Her framing is that AI is Augmented Intelligence, and the value sits in the human choosing what to do with the output. Young financiers who treat the model as a partner to interrogate, not a verdict to accept, will outperform those who treat it as an oracle.

The 2024 surveys frame the moment as a once-in-a-generation reset. AI is moving into advisory, trading, and client-facing workflows, and the next class of financiers is the cohort that has to deliver the technical floor and the human ceiling at the same time. The FSSC has signalled that its next report will focus on practical recommendations for firms, government, and the wider skills system.

Frequently Asked Questions

What AI skills do finance firms want most?

In the December 2024 EY European Financial Services AI Survey, 77% of finance leaders ranked the ability to adapt and flex as the top attribute for entry-level hires, followed by 70% naming an innovative and experimental mindset, and 44% naming cross-functional collaboration. The Financial Services Skills Commission (FSSC) lists 13 priority future skills for UK financial services, of which six are human capabilities like creative thinking, empathy, adaptability, and relationship management.

Are finance firms actually training people in AI?

The training response is trailing the adoption. The EY December 2024 survey found 78% of European finance leaders say their workforce lacks strong GenAI capabilities, and only 25% of firms have established GenAI training programmes. The Bank of England and FCA’s 2024 survey found 34% of UK financial services firms have a complete understanding of the AI they actually use.

Will AI replace entry-level finance jobs?

AI is expected to reshape entry-level roles rather than eliminate them outright. In the EY December 2024 survey, 59% of European finance leaders said AI will have a significant or transformative impact on the tasks performed by those joining the workforce. The FSSC’s A Workforce Transformed report warned AI could automate between 30% and 50% of tasks in most financial services roles, with entry-level positions particularly exposed.

How are business schools teaching AI in finance?

Universities are adding AI-specific tracks. The University of St. Gallen runs an executive course called Fit for Artificial Intelligence in Finance across five evening sessions in Zurich, at a fee of CHF 1,950. The lead academic is Lukas Gonon, assistant professor of AI in finance, with industry lecturers from UBS, EY, and NVIDIA covering generative AI, deep learning, and practical GenAI use cases.

Are soft skills more valuable than technical AI skills in finance?

The 2024 hiring data points that way at the entry level. In the EY December 2024 survey, 77% of leaders ranked adaptability as a top attribute for new hires, 70% named an innovative mindset, and 44% named cross-functional collaboration, while tech savvy ranked lower at 34%. The FSSC’s 13 future skills split six human capabilities against seven technical ones, with the human skills sitting at the top of the stack.

What is the biggest barrier to AI adoption in finance?

The skills gap ranks first. In the EY December 2024 survey, 56% of European finance leaders named limited understanding and experience of GenAI applications as their top concern. The FSSC’s 2023 report found demand for its 13 priority future skills outstrips supply by 20% across UK financial services, with one in eight roles now requiring technology proficiency.