Financial services firms are automating certain jobs while hiring to fill digital skills gaps

It's no secret that financial services firms on both the sell-side and buy-side are automating as many roles as they can. Artificial intelligence, data science and other technology roles may be on the rise, but others could see a significant decrease.

Are you in the firing line over the next three years? A recent report from technology firm FIS on financial services organisations ever-elusive search for growth, breaks out exactly where the 1,000 or so executives they interviewed believe automation will occur.

On the buy side, FIS charted the projected growth of automation in trade execution, portfolio management, derivatives lifecycle management, collateral management, exception management/workflow, fund accounting and reconciliation.

[caption id="attachment_289301" align="alignleft" width="662"] Source: FIS[/caption]

On the sell side, FIS charted survey respondents' projections for the growth of automation in trading, collateral management and post-trade processing.

[caption id="attachment_289302" align="alignleft" width="662"] Source: FIS[/caption]

The new operating model for growth will be ineffective unless the financial services workforce is reevaluated, according to FIS. In particular, this means putting new skills such as digital transformation, digital distribution/delivery, software programming/development, algorithmic/automated trading and data science specialists in place, enabling them to work in close collaboration with the front office to drive more value and better outcomes for customers, per the report.

“Talent that is an area that people recognize that they need to respond to as technology evolves to be ready for it,” says Tony Warren, an executive vice president and the head of strategy and solutions management at FIS Global, which he joined after it acquired SunGard Financial Systems. “Financial services managers look at the talent pool in the organization, see that the workforce is made up of many millennials, who have a different mindset, where everything they need has to be there.

“We’re such a dynamic era of change – the digital revolution has only just begun, and the speed of computing, storage costs and bandwidth are not mature yet,” he says. “The level of technology innovation is going to continue to push across all areas, not just fintech, which will create a shift in the talent mix that’s required."

[caption id="attachment_289305" align="alignleft" width="662"] Source: FIS[/caption]

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