New profiles are emerging in the financial sector
As the financial sector evolves, the sector’s employees face new demands. A new report focuses on the new profiles.
That's why she believes it has been necessary to map the development in the sector. Because it’s important that Finansforbundet not only ensures good conditions for its current members, but also for a future with new demands.
"At Finansforbundet, we want to contribute with knowledge and exchange views and ideas about everything related to working life. We can help whenever you need to look up, just for a moment, and consider both your own function and where you might want to go. In this respect, we can provide you with certain signposts to help you find your own way in the job you have now, or another job you would like to have," says Dorrit Brandt.
New profiles
Hanne Shapiro, founder and co-author of Shapiro Futures, explains that we will see more economics, mathematics and data science profiles in the financial sector in the future as a result of the increased use of big data.
"They will, for example, be hired to build complex risk models and to develop certain internal solutions," she says.
Hanne Shapiro also points out that, internationally, AI is increasingly being used in customer-facing solutions. One example, according to Shapiro, is in investment advisory services, where the American financial institution Morgan Stanley regularly produces a number of industry and technology reports with billions of data points that are available to advisers via AI solutions, for example in connection with investment advice.
"And to create such solutions, you need a mixed team of specialists who are able to develop and adapt these AI algorithms and models to the context of a bank. And you need software engineers who can also develop AI applications," explains Hanne Shapiro.
Big changes are taking place
Hanne Shapiro, founder of Shapiro Futures and one of the co-authors of the report, maintains that the financial sector is undergoing extensive changes.
"Banks' infrastructure is being transferred to the cloud. This increases the possibilities of integrating solutions from third parties, whether it's fintech or big tech, just as banks may use data actively to increase the personalisation of solutions aimed at the individual customer," she explains.
Compliance shift
But certain existing profiles and tasks are also changing as a result of the development.
One area of the sector where a lot has already happened, and where we have yet to see the final changes is the compliance area, explains Hanne Shapiro.
"Compliance is becoming part of the business development process, partly because regulation is becoming increasingly complex, and in that sense compliance is becoming part of the innovation process. And that means a profound shift in the compliance function," she says, explaining how this is reflected in the fact that development is increasingly taking place in multidisciplinary teams comprising banking expertise, IT expertise and compliance expertise.
"It also means that the compliance officer is taking on an advisory role in relation to companies' development and risk strategies in a completely different way than before," says Hanne Shapiro.
AI makes changes across the sector
Artificial intelligence has already and will likely continue to change jobs across functions in the sector, but ultimately, it is very much about business strategy, according to Hanne Shapiro.
"We’re still in the very early stages, and the analysis shows us that actively involving employees in development and implementation processes provides a good foundation for an open and experimental development culture, in which business cases are tested, and it’s beneficial to automate processes – and where it will add value when technology is used to support employees in carrying out their tasks," she says.
The right skills are a must
Development of skills is generally very important for financial sector employees, says Hanne Shapiro, emphasising that by skills enhancement she also means on-the-job development.
"One of the conclusions of the analysis is that in several banks, we see an increased focus on continuous development of employees through new tasks and internal mobility, probably because recruitment has become more challenging. In these organisations, we see a close link between the three to five-year business strategy, additional training efforts and the skills acquired being translated and applied in practice," she says.
Dorrit Brandt agrees that skills enhancement is essential. And it's important that employers also take this into account, she points out.
"Employees generate the business of financial services enterprises. It’ll be crucial for organisations to strengthen the link between business strategy, skills development and employee base. A strategic direction must be set for additional training and further education activities, and we want to help lead the way, because this is an area of common interest among employees and companies," concludes Dorrit Brandt.