As generative artificial intelligence (AI) takes off in the banking sector, the most secure jobs may be the ones managing this new generation of digital tools, reports Computer Weekly.
One in 50 bank employees now work in AI and data-related roles, according to the latest report from bank industry benchmarking firm Evident Insights. Looking at the six months between September 2024 and March 2025, hiring for these roles increased nearly 13 percent, – the largest AI recruitment push yet as early adopters seek to expand their use of machine learning and generative AI, and those lagging behind try to catch up.
AI and software implementation experts saw the biggest hiring increase, jumping 42 percent, followed by data engineers (up 14 percent) and AI development professionals (a 6 percent rise). US-based multinationals JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup lead in terms of overall AI talent, with UK firms HSBC and Barclays rounding out the top 10 at ninth and 10th, respectively. BBVA, headquartered in Madrid, is growing the fastest (at 17.6 percent) although it only gained one spot, moving to eighth.
“Data suggests that AI roles may be the only safe jobs in banking right now,” noted Alexandra Mousavizadeh, co-founder and CEO of Evident. “Away from the market noise and volatility, the leading banks are quietly but relentlessly pressing forward with AI transformation. They’re adding talent with increased precision, laser-targeting their efforts on where hiring will help scale AI use cases that deliver measurable value.”
The report found that the top 10 banks by AI volume – a group rounded out by Bank of America, Capital One, UBS and BNP Paribas, in fourth through seventh, respectively – also had twice as many AI use cases and were 1.5 times more likely to report a return on investment against deployments.
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AI used to be reserved mostly for augmenting workflows, Mousavizadeh explained. “But with industry headcount down by around 3 percent over the past two years, and major cost savings now explicitly tied to AI, the dynamic is shifting. For banks already seeing returns, there’s a clear signal that now is the time to double down.”
As outlined in a Tech Target article last year about the rise of generative AI in the banking and finance sector, there are five main areas where AI technologies are transforming financial operations and processes: customer experience, fraud detection and regulatory compliance, internal business operations, product innovation and lending, where AI assistants can answer questions about often complex lending products and help borrowers confidently navigate the application process.
Product innovations from generative AI include customer-facing tools that expand access to financial coaching and guidance, which in turn helps the bank acquire new customers and improve sales leads.
Internal business operations have also been a bigger priority for banks moving into generative AI, handling “anything and everything that allows a bank to function day to day,” Jasleen Kaur Sindhu, a financial services analyst at Gartner, told Tech Target. GenAI for fraud detection and regulatory compliance is gaining momentum, modelling normal bank behaviour and activities and detecting when there are deviations to more quickly identify emerging threats – threats that increasingly include generative AI, deployed by criminals.
For customers, though, the technology should help improve their experience by processing and analysing reams of data to identify problems and better arm customer service reps – and by becoming a frontline rep itself, in the form of the chatbots that are now a core component of customer service.
