Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

AutomationLatest NewsGlobal mobilityLearning & developmentSkills shortages

City firms ‘must coordinate skills development to avoid talent shortages’

by Ashleigh Webber 28 Jan 2020
by Ashleigh Webber 28 Jan 2020 Shutterstock
Shutterstock

Every role in the financial services sector will be affected by automation and the increasing use of technology over the next decade, a report calling for City firms to coordinate around skills development has claimed.

A large proportion of the 1.1 million financial services employees in the UK will need to transition into new roles or re-skill to prevent acute talent shortages in technical, managerial and customer service roles, according to the final report of the Financial Services Skills Taskforce.

Learning and reskilling

Employers failing to use human skills to mitigate future work risks

Employers should act now to mitigate job automation effect

Integrate learning into jobs, say L&D experts

The taskforce was set up by the Treasury in 2018 to examine whether the financial services sector has the skills needed to remain globally competitive.

There needs to be a focus on lifelong learning in the City to help employees remain “relevant”, it claims, with the skills they learnt at school, college and university deemed “no longer enough” to sustain them throughout their career.

Although globalisation has helped increase diversity in the sector and allowed companies to deploy teams around the world to serve new markets, it says teams need to become more agile to prevent their solutions from becoming obsolete before they are implemented. This will require managers to upskill to manage staff in remote locations and for employees to develop “niche” abilities and language skills to aid growth.

Mark Hoban, chair of the taskforce, said: “While there are many examples of good practice, the industry lacks the overarching vision, coordination and focus needed to weather the megatrends transforming global business.

“It is only by re-skilling our people that we will bring about the necessary system-wide changes. We need to need improve diversity and inclusion in our recruitment and retention practices, but this is not enough to transform the workforce.

“While there are firms who are already starting to re-skill their workforce, the sector as a whole lacks an overarching vision of what its skills needs will look like over the next decade. To bring about transformational change, it needs a skills framework to promote the acquisition of new skills at scale and cost effectively.”

The report recommends that:

  • A “Financial Services Skills Commission” is established to act as an independent, single voice that will communicate the sector’s needs to government and education providers. It should also ensure collective action on non-competitive areas that will benefit organisations
  • The sector works with employees to cultivate a culture of continuous learning and invests in upskilling and reskilling staff
  • A “future skills framework” is drawn up, which should be used as a basis for industry-wide collaboration around skills development
  • The sector increases awareness of the career opportunities it offers and widens access to jobs to attract a more diverse talent pool
  • Prioritises diversity, inclusion and progression.

Pauline Hawkes-Bunyan, director for business: risk, culture and resilience at the Investment Association commented: “Attracting and retaining a skilled and diverse workforce is key to the future success of financial services.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

“We support [the report’s] focus on the needs of financial services and the proposal to establish a permanent skills commission. This will need to be joined up with other existing initiatives within the industry in order to achieve greatest results.”

HR opportunities in Accountancy, Banking, Finance and Insurance on Personnel Today

Browse more HR opportunities in Accountancy, Banking, Finance and Insurance

Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is a former editor of OHW+ and former HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support.

previous post
Black police representation has barely increased in 11 years
next post
Immigration: MAC recommends lower salary threshold after Brexit

You may also like

Investing in skills when budgets are tight

12 May 2025

Leading with honest feedback: A responsibility in recruitment

24 Apr 2025

High-level apprenticeship spend doubles in five years

16 Apr 2025

Number of SMEs hiring staff in decline

10 Apr 2025

Gen Z and ‘conscious unbossing’: how can HR...

7 Apr 2025

How to build a commercially-minded workforce

3 Apr 2025

Why the apprenticeship shakeup is good news for...

20 Mar 2025

Scrapping NHS England could affect critical training, warn...

14 Mar 2025

Employee engagement: Growing disconnect between effort and recognition,...

13 Mar 2025

Schneider Electric doubles ex-military green skills scheme

13 Mar 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+