Artificial intelligence (AI)-related roles could become the only “safe jobs” in the banking sector as financial institutions “relentlessly” pursue AI-driven transformation.
Latest AI human resources reportbanking industry benchmarking firm Evident revealed the biggest AI adoption drive to date, with banks’ AI staff increasing by 13% in the past six months. It found that one in 50 employees hired by the top 10 banks is currently working in an AI-related role.
The results showed that hiring for AI development professionals increased by 6%, data engineers by 14%, and AI and software implementation professionals by 42%.
US banks dominate the top 10 when it comes to AI adoption, with JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup occupying the top three spots, while Britain’s HSBC and Barclays round out the top 10 in 9th and 10th place, respectively. France’s BNP Paribas and Spain’s BBVA were at 7 and 8, respectively.
Evident said Lloyds Banking Group was part of a group of companies aiming to catch up to the top 10. Last month, the bank announced it was training 200 senior leaders to help organizations make the most of AI. The bank is working with training provider Cambridge Spark on a program to embed AI skills in leadership. We also recently announced that we will use Google Cloud’s Vertex AI to build a machine learning (ML) and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) development platform used by more than 300 data scientists.
Alexandra, Co-Founder and CEO of Evident Mousavizadeh said, “Data suggests that AI roles may be the only secure jobs in banking right now. Big banks are quietly but persistently transforming AI, away from the noise and volatility of the market. They’re increasing precision, adding talent, and laser-targeting their efforts to where hires can help expand the use cases for AI that deliver measurable value.”
We found that the top 10 banks by number of AI talent have twice as many AI use cases and are 1.5 times more likely to report a return on investment for implementation.
“Historically, AI has been primarily used to augment workflows. However, with headcount in the industry falling by around 3% over the past two years and significant cost savings clearly being tied to AI, the dynamics are shifting. For banks that are already profitable, there are clear signs that now is the time to double down,” Mousavizadeh said.
It is clear that the gap between leaders and laggards is widening. “The pressure is really on the banks that are lagging behind, if their AI strategy implementation is still in the early stages and they are trying to determine the right path forward, and so are their staff,” Mousavizadeh said.
The Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority are tracking how UK financial services companies are using AI and machine learning. A recent survey of 120 companies found that three-quarters already use some form of AI in their operations.
In an interview with Computer Weekly, ING Chief Technology Officer Daniele Tonella described the bank’s “conservative and aggressive” approach to innovation with GenAI.
“ING has laid the foundation for GenAI to avoid being talked about as a ‘tech toy’,” he said.
The bank is enabling development around GenAI in five areas: customer understanding, call center, wholesale banking to improve customer due diligence, retail for hyper-personalization of products, and inside technology for engineering.
“We have put in place strict governance to focus all GenAI exploration into five areas and only under the control of our Chief Operating Officer. This is important as AI is receiving a lot of attention and attention.”
Challenger banks are no strangers to using AI. Speaking on a panel discussing the next chapter of fintech at the Innovation Finance Global Summit in London, Zopa Bank CEO Jaydev Janardhana said GenAI is being used to enable software teams to write code faster.
“This also supports productivity in our operations, helping us understand customer sentiment and respond more quickly,” Janardhana added.
