Generative AI’s Role In Financial Services Demands A New Talent Strategy

It wasn’t that long ago that financial services executives and board members got most of the knowledge they needed from years of on-the-job experience. Today, familiarity with the way things used to be gets you only so far.

The pace and scale of the disruption that’s shaking up the industry is obviously the main reason. Then there’s the fact that technology—not everyone’s forte—has become such a vital ingredient. But there’s another crucial issue, and it’s one that’s notoriously difficult to manage: the human factor.

It has never been more important for financial services firms to have a flexible and holistic talent plan. As their offerings and operating models evolve to drive more efficiency and as new technology and ways of working demand different skills in different places, an effective talent strategy is essential.

The advent of generative AI has made this truth clearer than ever. Its ability to automate routine tasks and augment many others—especially in financial services, which is rife with unstructured-data tasks—has forced banks and insurers to reconfigure traditional roles and to recruit or develop skills that were not needed before. For example, more than half (52%) of entry-level positions at banks could be impacted by generative AI, according to Gartner research.

Of course, deciding what needs to be done, and how, starts with the business strategy—and even here the approach is changing. Few FS senior executives currently have the knowledge and experience of technology to fully understand generative AI’s potential to transform the firm’s offerings, experiences and processes. They will need to upskill swiftly while leaning more heavily on their data and AI colleagues—who in turn will need to become more adept at contributing to business strategies.

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