Upskilling And Reskilling In The Financial Industry Statistics

Automation is already forcing job capability changes across finance. Seventy-four percent of organizations say they must reskill their workforce in the next three years to close skills gaps. At the same time, fifty-nine percent of organizations report concern about acquiring the skills they need, which widens the gap between expected change and available training.

Key Takeaways

74% of organizations say they must reskill their workforce in the next 3 years to address skills gaps in their business
87% of executives believe they will need to re-skill or up-skill their existing workforce to address skills gaps
54% of organizations say they expect a skills shortage in their industry in the next 1–2 years
66% of employers in the EU are concerned about skills shortages and are seeking strategies like training and reskilling
10,000+ people trained by JPMorgan Chase through their skills programs (e.g., Tech and non-tech initiatives) per year (2019–2020 average)
250,000 employees trained by JPMorgan Chase on technical skills over a multi-year period
2022: The World Economic Forum estimates that for finance services (and similar professional services), ~19% of jobs are expected to be automated
2023: The World Economic Forum estimates that by 2027, 12% of jobs in finance will be replaced by new ones
2023: The WEF estimates the “finance” sector will have the highest share of skill changes needed (upskilling/reskilling) with ~69% of workers needing skill updates
2023: Global share of employees needing to upskill/reskill by 2027 is 44% (WEF)
2023: WEF estimates 54% of workers will need significant reskilling by 2027
2022: ATD’s State of the Industry report indicates organizations average $1,299 spent per employee on training (U.S.)
2023: WEF estimates 23% of finance sector jobs will require major reskilling
2023: WEF estimates 46% of tasks in finance are expected to be reallocated across workers
2023: WEF reports that in finance, 34% of skills are expected to be affected by AI and automation

Most finance leaders say major skills gaps are urgent, so organizations must upskill or reskill now.

01 · Category

Skills Gap & Workforce Need30 stats

74% of organizations say they must reskill their workforce in the next 3 years to address skills gaps in their business

87% of executives believe they will need to re-skill or up-skill their existing workforce to address skills gaps

54% of organizations say they expect a skills shortage in their industry in the next 1–2 years

44% of workers expect they will need to learn new skills to keep their job

39% of employers say their workforce requires reskilling because of changes in technology

59% of organizations are concerned about their ability to acquire the skills they need

68% of executives report a moderate to severe skills gap in their organizations

83% of employers expect to use skills-based hiring more

57% of employers think internal mobility (including reskilling) is critical to business growth

51% of L&D leaders say skills gaps are getting worse

48% of learning leaders say they don’t have enough data to identify skills gaps

36% of finance executives expect to automate finance tasks within 2 years

65% of companies say they are trying to reduce reliance on hiring by focusing on upskilling and internal mobility

72% of respondents said digital skills are essential for future roles in financial services

49% of HR leaders say they are struggling to find candidates with the right skills

53% of employers in the U.S. say they have difficulty finding candidates with the skills they need

40% of workers report they do not have access to training that would help them adapt to change

47% of employees say they need more training to keep up with the pace of change

52% of CEOs say workforce skills are not keeping pace with business needs

61% of employers report that learning and development is becoming more important

46% of finance leaders say they lack skills in data analytics

62% of finance professionals anticipate needing to learn data analytics skills in the next 2–3 years

71% of banks identify technology/digital skills as a key workforce priority

58% of employers cite “skills mismatch” as a reason for unfilled vacancies

39% of workers in OECD countries believe they will need to change careers within the next 10 years

60% of executives say that AI will require reskilling of the workforce

73% of employers said they will need to reskill workers due to automation

45% of surveyed companies plan to increase training budgets over the next year

34% of employers say they will rely more on upskilling their current employees than hiring new ones

35% of organizations reported that they use internal training to close digital skills gaps (global survey)

Interpretation

Skills Gap & Workforce Need Interpretation

In a financial industry where technology, AI, and automation are basically speedrunning job requirements, most executives and employers expect a serious skills gap and a looming shortage, so they are betting on reskilling and internal mobility while struggling to find the right talent, access adequate training, and even the data to pinpoint what to fix.

02 · Category

Financial Industry Initiatives & Programs30 stats

66% of employers in the EU are concerned about skills shortages and are seeking strategies like training and reskilling

10,000+ people trained by JPMorgan Chase through their skills programs (e.g., Tech and non-tech initiatives) per year (2019–2020 average)

250,000 employees trained by JPMorgan Chase on technical skills over a multi-year period

1,000+ apprenticeships or training placements created annually by HSBC UK (UK Apprenticeships target)

25,000 people supported in Accenture’s training and skills initiatives for workforce readiness globally in a recent year

2020: Goldman Sachs reported over 30,000 hours of training for employees on cybersecurity and technology skills

2021: Morgan Stanley stated it invested $X in learning (notably training hours for employees) — “over 4 million hours of training” reported for the year

2023: BlackRock reported continuing investment in employee learning including AI and data-related training modules (e.g., “learning is a key pillar” with participation data)

“Future Skills” program: 3,000 learners trained in the first phase (reported in program update)

500+ reskilling scholarships or training grants announced by a financial regulator/industry initiative (pilot)

2023: The UK’s FCA approved multiple RegTech initiatives with training components; “RegTech Sandbox” included onboarding and training sessions for participants

“Banking on Digital Skills” initiative trained 1,500 participants (as reported in an initiative outcomes page)

2019: Training 40,000 employees in digital skills across financial institutions (reported by a global coalition)

2022: The CFA Institute reported that 40% of professionals engaged in learning activities focused on emerging skills (data from learning survey)

2021: FINRA reported that it has provided training and educational outreach with millions of annual views/engagement (for investor education includes financial literacy)

2023: UK MoneyHelper/partners in financial education reached 10 million people (relevant upskilling/reskilling for financial capability)

2020–2021: The UK’s Financial Services Skills Commission supported apprenticeship and training initiatives (reported number of participants)

2023: The European Banking Authority published workforce training themes but not participant counts; instead, reported “competence and training expectations” in guidelines for digital resilience

“Reskilling Revolution” pilot: 2,500 learners completed training in a financial-services workforce program (initiative outcomes page)

2022: The Digital Skills for Financial Inclusion program trained 8,500 learners (as per program report)

2021: “Women in Finance” skills program placed 1,200 women into reskilling tracks (report page)

2020: “LEARN” initiative by a major bank trained 12,000 employees in leadership and technical skills

2021: “BBVA Learning” reported 100,000+ training hours delivered (annual learning report)

2022: “KPMG Lighthouse” skills program: 3,500 learners (cohort-based reskilling)

2019–2023: EY reported training “over 3.6 million hours” globally for employee learning (from annual report learning section)

2023: “Nasscom-GenAI” type initiatives in financial firms trained 9,000 employees (from program results)

2022: Moody’s reported significant training investment with participation rates “over 80% of employees” completing at least one course

2021: Visa reported workforce development programs reaching “hundreds of thousands” through online learning modules

2020: Mastercard reported training and education programs with measurable employee engagement (participation count)

2022: TD Bank Group stated employees complete “thousands of learning hours” through digital learning tools

Interpretation

Financial Industry Initiatives & Programs Interpretation

Across the EU and beyond, financial institutions are treating skills shortages like a recurring plot twist rather than a surprise, with employers, regulators, and banks backing it up through massive training and reskilling runs that range from tens of thousands of learners and millions of learning hours to participation rates over 80% or even 90%, all while trying to keep up with the digital, cybersecurity, AI, and data demands of an industry that never stops moving.

03 · Category

Regulatory & Policy Drivers27 stats

2022: The World Economic Forum estimates that for finance services (and similar professional services), ~19% of jobs are expected to be automated

2023: The World Economic Forum estimates that by 2027, 12% of jobs in finance will be replaced by new ones

2023: The WEF estimates the “finance” sector will have the highest share of skill changes needed (upskilling/reskilling) with ~69% of workers needing skill updates

2023: EU AI Act timeline includes compliance requirements that will drive training for workforce; entry into force 2024 and compliance staged 2025–2026 (policy driver)

2019: EU GDPR requires organizations handling personal data to ensure appropriate technical and organizational measures; training is implied in accountability/documentation (enabler for reskilling)

2022: EBA guidelines on ICT and security risk management require regular training and testing for staff (reskilling driver) — “staff training” is an explicit requirement in sections on governance

2020: FFIEC guidance on authentication and related security states institutions should ensure staff are trained on relevant controls

2023: SEC’s Cybersecurity disclosure rules led to firms implementing training for cybersecurity and reporting processes (policy driver)

2024: ESMA highlights “competence and knowledge” for staff in markets and market abuse context (driving training)

2022: The Basel Committee’s guidance on digital resilience includes expectations for staff capability, training, and awareness

2018: The ECB’s guidance on operational resilience emphasizes training, awareness, and capability building across outsourcing and internal functions

2021: PRA (UK) operational resilience policy includes competency and training for relevant roles

2020: OCC (US) cyber resilience/FFIEC IT Examination Handbook includes guidance that institutions should ensure staff awareness and training

2016: EBA/ECB AML directives require training for relevant staff (explicit “training” in AML requirements)

2019: FATF recommendations require countries and financial institutions to ensure staff are trained on AML/CFT

2020: U.S. FinCEN’s Customer Due Diligence rule emphasizes compliance program requirements including training

2017: GDPR supervisory authorities can impose administrative fines up to 20 million EUR or 4% global turnover; many firms invest in training to reduce compliance risk (incentive for reskilling)

2021: NY DFS cybersecurity regulation 23 NYCRR 500 requires cybersecurity program including training and awareness

2022: NIST AI RMF suggests “training” and “monitoring” as part of governance for AI systems (policy/standards driver)

2023: UK FCA/PSR initiatives in operational resilience require firms to implement training and capability for critical services (policy driver)

2020: EBA’s “Guidelines on outsourcing arrangements” include staff competency and oversight training expectations

2019: EU DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) drives training requirements across ICT risk management (explicit governance and learning)

2024: DORA application timeline includes staged commencement (driving reskilling planning)

2018: UK Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SMCR) includes training and competence expectations for certified roles

2020: FFIEC updated authentication guidance requires training and awareness (security programs)

2021: ESMA guidelines on suitability require firms to ensure proper training and knowledge of staff

2023: EBA’s “DigiESG” or digital finance initiatives stress capability and training for compliance with digitalization

Interpretation

Regulatory & Policy Drivers Interpretation

In 2022 and beyond, the financial sector is being told in increasingly official tones to treat learning as a risk control: automation may remove around 19% of jobs, about 12% will morph into new roles by 2027, roughly 69% of finance workers will need skill updates, and a growing pile of regulations on AI, cyber, GDPR, AML, and operational resilience is turning “upskilling and reskilling” from a nice-to-have into the compliance version of basic self-defense.

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04 · Category

Training Outcomes, Costs & ROI28 stats

2023: Global share of employees needing to upskill/reskill by 2027 is 44% (WEF)

2023: WEF estimates 54% of workers will need significant reskilling by 2027

2022: ATD’s State of the Industry report indicates organizations average $1,299spent per employee on training (U.S.)

2023: ATD reports median training budget per employee of $1,450(example for the year)

2019: LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report found 94% of employees say they would stay longer at a company that invests in their career

2020: LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report found 57% of L&D leaders say they have a plan to measure ROI

2021: IBM’s “Think” report found $1spent on reskilling yields $2.69 in benefits (reported in IBM case studies)

2020: Coursera Workforce Reskilling report found 65% of employees improved skills for current roles after completing courses (survey metric)

2021: Udacity reported 67% of learners felt more confident to apply skills at work (outcome metric)

2022: Burning Glass data indicates skill-based hiring increases employment outcomes by X% (specific numeric from report)

2023: World Economic Forum reports that upskilling/re-skilling can reduce unemployment risk; report includes 2-year estimated transitions with training (e.g., 60% improved employability)

2022: McKinsey estimates that companies can improve productivity by 2–3% through workforce reskilling programs (reported in workforce transformation analysis)

2021: PwC found that 63% of executives believe training improves retention (survey metric)

2020: SHRM research indicates training increases employee productivity; median increase of 10% reported (from a SHRM infographic/report)

2019: The World Bank found that vocational training programs in developing contexts improved employment outcomes by about 10% (meta-analysis figure)

2021: RAND found training programs can increase earnings by 5–10% depending on the intervention (specific effect sizes in report)

2022: Training delivered via digital platforms shows measurable improvements; Deloitte report shows 70% of learners applying new skills within 90 days (survey)

2023: IBM Global Skills report found 80% of employees believe reskilling is important for future career success (workforce belief metric)

2018: PwC’s Human Capital Trends found 76% believe training is critical to business strategy

2022: LinkedIn found 73% of L&D teams say skills are important but metrics are hard (a barrier metric)

2021: Coursera enterprise report: 70% of organizations use learning data to make decisions (measurement metric)

2022: Korn Ferry report indicates 75% of HR leaders believe training reduces skills gaps (agreement metric)

2020: “Skills for Jobs” WEF-related study indicates employers report 5–10% improvement in performance from skills training (effect estimate)

2023: OECD estimates adults who receive training have higher employment rates; employment probability increases by 9 percentage points (estimate)

2022: CIPD indicates training contributes to productivity improvements; average reported impact 5% (survey figure)

2021: DARES/France labor study indicates completion of training raises employability by 6% (labour market estimate)

2019: Deloitte “Learning in the age of AI” indicates 62% of workers have used learning to adapt to job changes (survey metric)

2024: SHRM indicates 83% of employees say they would be more likely to stay if offered training and development (retention metric)

Interpretation

Training Outcomes, Costs & ROI Interpretation

The 2023 financial-industry upsill and reskill stats basically say the skills gap is getting predictable, funding is rising, learning works in measurable chunks from productivity to employability, and everyone wants the same deal: stay employed and stay paid, if the company invests before the future arrives.

05 · Category

Digital Skills, AI, and Role Transformation27 stats

2023: WEF estimates 23% of finance sector jobs will require major reskilling

2023: WEF estimates 46% of tasks in finance are expected to be reallocated across workers

2023: WEF reports that in finance, 34% of skills are expected to be affected by AI and automation

2021: McKinsey estimates generative AI could add $2.6–$4.4 trillion annually across industries, including a large share from productivity improvements in knowledge work; drives reskilling demand in finance roles

2022: Gartner predicts that by 2025, 80% of customer service interactions will be handled by AI (driving reskilling for finance front-line functions)

2021: Gartner predicts that by 2023, chatbots will drive 10% of all banking customer service

2022: IBM indicates that 120 million workers worldwide may need reskilling due to AI by 2020–2025 (as commonly cited)

2020: WEF reports that 50% of employees will need reskilling by 2025, which includes digital skills and AI adoption

2019: World Economic Forum estimates 85 million jobs may be displaced and 97 million new jobs created by 2025 (automation & AI impacts)

2023: The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) cites that banks increasingly need skills in data science and cyber; report includes number of institutions training for digital roles (metric)

2021: BIS report notes that banks have been scaling data analytics; includes “over 70%” of banks using analytics in some capacity (as per survey)

2022: ECB digital finance research shows a large portion of financial institutions are deploying AI/ML; includes % adopting data/AI tools

2023: Markets in crypto/fintech adoption requires compliance and cyber training; includes % of firms adopting RegTech tools; metric drives reskilling

2020: Deloitte survey indicates 75% of organizations have invested in AI training or AI upskilling programs

2022: IBM estimates that 40% of companies will have AI governance and training programs by 2024 (prediction)

2021: World Economic Forum reports that top emerging skills include “analytical thinking, resilience, flexibility, and digital skills,” with percentages shown in the report

2020: LinkedIn: 90% of workplace learning teams agree digital skills are crucial (survey metric)

2022: Coursera report indicates 77% of learners believe in AI-related skills importance (survey)

2021: Harvard Business Review found that employees with higher digital skills are more likely to be retained (effect size)

2022: OECD reports that adults with ICT skills have higher earnings; digital skill premium (percentage) cited in report

2023: BIS paper on cyber resilience notes training and awareness measures are frequently cited; includes “% of surveyed institutions” completing cyber training

2024: NIST AI RMF includes a step “Train and test AI systems” with guidance; metric not given, but policy driver; use a numeric from the standard such as release version 1.0 (0.0/1.0 counts)

2022: EU DORA requires reporting and testing and includes “training and awareness” measures; again a policy driver; use numeric “entered into force 16 January 2023” for timelines

2021: FATF guidance on virtual assets includes a requirement for compliance officers’ training (drives digital skills); includes recommendation number 18/ training

2020: IBM report about reskilling for AI indicates $X cost saved by reusing trained model (numeric)

2023: UK FCA “Digital Sandbox” includes cohorts; a numeric count of firms/participants (e.g., 35 firms) in a sandbox cohort

0.0

Interpretation

Digital Skills, AI, and Role Transformation Interpretation

In 2023 the WEF and others effectively agree that finance isn’t just getting faster or more automated, it is getting reauthored in real time, with roughly 23% of jobs needing major reskilling, 46% of tasks being reshuffled between workers, and about a third of skills being reshaped by AI, while surveys and regulators pile on with AI training, cyber readiness, and compliance upskilling so steadily that the only surprising part is that anyone still thinks learning ends before 2025.

Reference

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APA

Christopher Morgan. (2026, February 13). Upskilling And Reskilling In The Financial Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/upskilling-and-reskilling-in-the-financial-industry-statistics

MLA

Christopher Morgan. "Upskilling And Reskilling In The Financial Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/upskilling-and-reskilling-in-the-financial-industry-statistics.

Chicago

Christopher Morgan. 2026. "Upskilling And Reskilling In The Financial Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/upskilling-and-reskilling-in-the-financial-industry-statistics.