FEATURE : AI
GENAI IS DEVELOPING FASTER THAN MANY OTHER TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS OF RECENT TIMES , AND DEMANDS NEW , PROGRESSIVE SKILL SETS .
technologies , only a quarter of firms have established new training and upskilling programmes , with 60 % still in the planning phase .
“ GenAI continues to sit high on the agenda for financial services leadership teams , promising wellacknowledged new levels of productivity gain ,” said Omar Ali , EY Global Financial Services Leader . “ There is little doubt within the sector that harnessing AI – and increasingly GenAI – is game-changing , but the implementation of an evolving technology , to budget , within risk appetite and across an entire workforce , is hugely complex and challenging . Whilst some firms have made huge leaps in adopting AI and have seen real benefits , many are struggling to keep pace .
“ GenAI is developing faster than many other technological innovations of recent times , and demands new , progressive skill sets ,” added Ali . “ The firms that ramp up regulatory preparations , build an appropriate risk and control framework and roll out essential new training and upskilling programmes across their whole workforce – not just to the technical few – will be setting themselves apart from the competition .”
AI could impact up to a third of Europe ’ s finance roles – especially at entry-level
The majority ( 66 %) of executives surveyed believe that over the next year up to a quarter ( 25 %) of current European financial services roles could be impacted by ongoing AI integration , and 93 % of executives say up to 10 % of roles could become redundant . Despite this , only a quarter ( 25 %) report their firm has an established training programme in place , 43 % say plans are still in their infancy , and 29 % confirm they currently have no training programmes in place – 12 % of whom say they have no plans to develop one .
Entry-level positions are expected to be particularly impacted , with 59 % of leaders believing AI technologies will have a significant or even transformative impact on the roles and tasks undertaken by those joining the workforce . Despite this , only 24 % of executives plan to restructure entrylevel roles and responsibilities , and just 25 % plan to integrate AI training within their graduate programme ( down from 35 % in 2023 ).
Over a third ( 35 %) say they have not taken any action to offset any potential knock-on impacts of AI adoption on the junior workforce ( up from 28 % in 2023 ).
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