AI in Banking: A Win for the Industry, A Boost for Jobs

2025 is proving to be the year of adoption for artificial intelligence (AI) in banking. Wall Street firms are expanding their teams at a rapid pace, which hasn’t been seen since the digital banking boom. Yet in the same breath, headlines are warning of up to 200,000 potential job cuts in the sector as automation takes hold.

So which is it? That prediction only tells half of the story. The reality is that AI, when applied reasonably, isn’t a replacement strategy – it’s an empowerment tool. People equipped with smarter, faster systems that let them focus on strategy, growth and relationships will shape the future of banking, not fewer people.

We often hear the word ‘upskilling’ in this conversation, and for some, that can feel intimidating. Change can be uncomfortable, especially for seasoned professionals who’ve built long careers doing things a certain way.

That’s the reason why it’s so important not to position technology as the driver of change, but rather the opportunity that comes with it. Tools by themselves don’t inspire, it’s the people who choose to reimagine how banking can be conducted. For many, the chance to deliver the next generation of customer experiences, and to champion growth in new ways, is far more exciting than the fear of ‘new tricks’. Ultimately AI’s success will not be defined by the technology alone, but by the visionaries who are prepared to unlock its potential.

AI is the real catalyst for new banking careers

Perhaps the most immediate impact of AI is its ability to offload repetitive, manual work. This includes: content creation, trend/data analysis and workflow optimization – all of which are tasks tailor-made for automation. When machines handle those time-consuming tasks, employees will gain extra bandwidth to focus on higher-value challenges, ones that need human judgement and creativity.

This move opens the door to completely new roles in banking. Future careers won’t be about number-crunching in isolation, but about shaping long-term strategy and building trust.

How AI is going to impact day-to-day banking work

On the ground, AI is transforming the daily rhythm of work. Instead of putting aside hours to dig through systems for information, bankers can now pull up accurate and tailored insights instantly.

AI is being used by customer-facing teams to both anticipate needs and personalize conversations, marking a shift from transactional exchanges to genuine relationship-building. Compliance teams, who were once being held down by manual checks, can now provide more time and energy to interpreting risk signals and shaping policy responses.

The overall effect is a workplace that is significantly more dynamic and ultimately rewarding for employees.

The new skills banks will need

As AI continues to automate the routine, the human skill set that’s required to succeed in banking is changing. Data literacy will become just as important as financial literacy. Employees must be able to interpret AI outputs and then apply them effectively, ultimately resulting in decisions that reflect both regulatory obligations and customer values.

Alongside that, equally important are soft skills. Empathy, communication and ethical reasoning will only become more valuable and necessary as banks compete to provide not just financial services, but trusted relationships. Institutions that invest in training will be the ones that convert existing roles into higher-value careers and open up entirely new career paths.

People will not move as fast as technology… but that’s okay

While AI is poised to change the future of banking, this won’t happen overnight. Employees will have time to adapt and adjust to the ‘new ways of working’ and to understand how their roles may evolve with the adoption of AI.

Companies won’t roll out AI tools overnight – they must go through a thorough process to ensure proper implementation to fully realise the benefits AI can bring to daily operations.

This moment is comparable to the industrial revolution – specifically Ford’s assembly line. It took nearly a decade for product development to reach mass adoption. The assembly line simplified repetitive processes to make it easier to build cars and meet demand. AI is a similar revolution: we are taking diverse forms of data and standardizing it for scalable use.

AI is still in the “Model T” stage. It’s an innovation that will have dramatic ramifications on society and individuals, but it is a revolution. Just like society adapted to millions of cars on the road, workforces will adapt to millions of agents powered by data operating around us. Just like how the assembly line replaced hand installation, it created machinist jobs and other roles that were unimaginable just a decade before.

AI is not a light switch. With the right adoption strategy and expectation, the revolution will continue for the next 5-10 years.

Why purpose-built AI matters for job growth

Generic AI tools struggle to keep pace with the complexity of our financial systems. Purpose-built solutions, which are trained on institution-specific data and workflows, are proving far more effective. These platforms are showing that when AI is tailored to banking operations, efficiency gains increase. Employees spend less time wrestling with tools and more time applying insights, creating a multiplier effect that expands responsibilities rather than eliminating them.

The Future: More jobs, not less

The banks that thrive in the AI era will be those that see AI not as a workforce reduction strategy, but as a partner in transformation. By eliminating low-value, time-consuming tasks, investing in upskilling and fostering new roles, banks will end up with new versions of their current teams. These will be more analytical, innovative and perhaps most importantly, customer-focused.

AI won’t shrink the banking workforce. It will shape it into something stronger.