A new report from the organisation has revealed that while 86 per cent of employers across all industries expect artificial intelligence (AI) and information processing technologies to significantly transform their business by 2030, the financial services sector leads the way, with a staggering 97 per cent of employers anticipating similar changes.
“Increased digitalisation is seen as the primary driver of transformation in the financial services and capital markets sector over the next five years, alongside adaptation to climate change and slower economic growth,” the World Economic Forum (WEF) said.
According to the group, the financial services industry is expected to be particularly impacted by AI. Only a small minority (5 per cent) of employers in the sector don’t anticipate a significant adoption of the technology by 2030, compared with 14 per cent on average across all industries.
“As a result, AI and big data skills, technological literacy and cyber security skills are estimated to be in high demand and the industry anticipates creation of new job roles for big data specialists, AI and machine learning specialists, and security management specialists,” the WEF said.
The organisation also pointed out an interesting trend for a small handful of industries – financial services included.
“In four sectors – oil and gas, chemicals and advanced materials, financial services and capital markets, and electronics – automation is projected not only to reduce the proportion of total work tasks predominantly done today stand-alone by humans, but even to reduce the share of total work tasks currently delivered through human machine collaboration.”
For sectors like financial services, this is resulting in a calculated “automation shares” of 100 per cent or more.
Specifically, the industry is expected to see the proportion of “human-performed tasks”, currently estimated at around 44 per cent of all task delivery, to fall to some 28 per cent by 2030, with 100 per cent of this change attributable to advancing automation.
As such, the WEF underscored: “The interplay between humans, machines and algorithms is redefining job roles across industries.”
How are employees adapting?
In response to these transformations, the financial services industry is leading other sectors in preparing its workforce for the digital age.
In fact, the sector topped the list for the largest share of employers that considered networks and cyber security as a skill category to be growing in importance for their workforce from 2025 to 2030, as opposed to having stable or declining importance.
For AI and big data, financial services had the sixth highest share, at 95 per cent, and came in second for technological literacy, at 84 per cent.
However, more than a fifth (21 per cent) of those in the sector expect an inability to attract talent to their firm, or to financial services more broadly, hindering their organisational transformation.
“To improve talent availability, the industry is planning on investing in reskilling and upskilling (71 per cent of employers), supporting employees’ wellbeing (64 per cent) and improving promotion processes (61 per cent),” the report said.
According to the WEF, remote and hybrid work is also seen as a strategy to stay attractive for 58 per cent of companies in the sector, and one out of two respondents is calling for changes to labour laws that support remote work, compared with 36 per cent in other sectors.
Financial services, it added, is also particularly advanced in its plans to remove degree requirements in favour of skills-based hiring approaches at 28 per cent, compared with 19 per cent across all industries.
