Finance

How will technology evolve the sector?

The finance sector’s insatiable need for technology skills shows no signs of slowing down as companies strive to increase their capabilities in fields such as data analytics and artificial intelligence. But while technology has traditionally worked to support operations, many of these companies have become technology companies in their own right. This can be seen both in the transformation taking place within traditional providers and in the emerging crop of fin-techs and neo-banks.

This focus on technology does not however come at the expense of human interaction. Finance sector companies are placing greater emphasis on improving employee engagement and customer service, and we will see more investments in automation, analytics and customer interaction technology to empower employees accordingly. It is expected they will continue to invest in security, governance and ethics, to ensure they can meet their compliance requirements and customers’ expectations.

How will the demand for finance workers evolve over the next decade?

We forecast employment growth in the financial services sector under our 2028 scenario. For many occupations in this sector, the need for non-routine, interpersonal and cognitive tasks such as interpreting information for others and providing advice are valuable, and more difficult to automate. That means they are relatively well protected from the implications of the next decade’s technological change.

An exception to that rule, amongst the sector’s major occupations, is for office clerks. This role is typically focused on routine processing of information and analysis of data, tasks that technology is increasingly capable of performing. We predict a 5% drop in headcount for this position.

On the contrary, demand for finance managers and bank tellers (or an evolved variant of that customer-facing role) are predicted to grow by over 10%, as the importance of interpersonal tasks, such as customer orientation and conflict resolution, and cognitive tasks, such as interpreting information for others – at which workers in these roles excel, grow in a more technology driven environment.

The future of jobs and skills needed

How widespread are skills shortfalls for new entrants to this sector?

An expanding finance sector will draw talent from other parts of the labour market but filling the new roles will require a degree of skills training. Our analysis suggests the most common skills challenge facing the available talent pool is in critical thinking. Almost 6 out of every 10 workers in the available talent pool lacks the necessary critical thinking skills for emerging jobs in the sector.

Training also needs to be prioritised in skills, such as active listening and decision making, for which the required level is lacking in more than half of the available talent pool.

Our analysis also illustrates the acuteness of the skills shortfall across a range of skills. New entrants to the sector face a steeper learning curve than any other sector in Australia, given the relatively high demand for highly skilled professionals. Our analysis suggests that the most intense reskilling effort emerges in jobs requiring programming skills, for which the available talent pool is around 55% short of the level required. A significant uplift is also required in equipment maintenance and operation and control skills.