The largest banks in the world have expanded their artificial intelligence workforce by 13% over the past six months. Notably, this trend has persisted even amid overall staffing reductions at many financial institutions. Currently, one in every 50 employees in the banking sector holds a role specifically focused on AI.
Recent findings from Evident, a platform specializing in AI benchmarking and intelligence, reveal that while banks continue to hire across various sectors, certain areas are experiencing significant growth. For instance, AI development roles increased by 6%, data engineering positions surged by 14%, and AI software implementation roles skyrocketed by 42%, albeit from a smaller baseline.
JPMorgan Chase has emerged as the leading employer of AI talent in the banking industry, followed closely by major players such as Wells Fargo, Citi, Bank of America, Capital One, UBS, BNP Paribas, BBVA, HSBC, and Barclays. Additionally, four other banks—CommBank, BNY, TD Bank, and Lloyds Banking Group—are aggressively ramping up their AI workforce, achieving growth rates exceeding 21%. This indicates a determined effort to catch up with established industry leaders.
Investments in AI appear to be yielding benefits: the top ten banks with the highest volume of AI talent report twice as many AI use cases and are 1.5 times more likely to showcase a return on investment from these initiatives.
Alexandra Mousavizadeh, CEO of Evident, notes, “Our data indicates that AI roles may represent some of the more secure positions in banking today. Amid market fluctuations, leading banks are progressing steadily with their AI transformation efforts.”