The Human Skills Powering Financial Services Success

From compliance to creativity

Traditionally, financial services have prized analytical and compliance skills. Today, however, organizations are seeking professionals who can also innovate, collaborate, and adapt to change. The ability to generate new ideas, embrace emerging technologies, and develop customer-centric solutions is now at the heart of industry success.

Our research mapped industry frameworks to a robust skills taxonomy, pinpointing 15 critical skills for financial services professionals. These span technical expertise, critical thinking, collaboration, and ethical conduct. But what skills showed gaps to develop?

Four areas where skills gaps exist

1. Collaboration and communication

Financial organizations can often work in silos but fostering a team culture that encourages listening and where others are given the opportunity to share their viewpoints is a key development area for financial professionals. This will also help strengthen the ability to accept and appreciate different viewpoints, which was another skills gap. This will help build stronger relationships with clients, colleagues, and stakeholders.

2. Technical expertise and problem-solving

Applying functional expertise is a key skill gap, particularly as financial services become more specialized, and continue rapid adoption of AI and automation tools. Organizations must prioritize upskilling in those specialist areas like risk management, financial analysis, and digital finance so employees can apply this knowledge effectively when working on tasks and with clients. If professionals can improve their proficiency in dealing with more technical queries and show knowledge in future technologies, it will also help prepare your workforce for a digital-first future.

3. Innovation and strategic thinking

Embracing new ideas is a skill that was shown to be important to financial services candidates and where they demonstrated similar ability to those in other industries. However, generating new ideas is an area for growth, interestingly a skill our research into other industries showed that retail candidates excel at. Professionals who can generate fresh ideas and quickly apply new technologies are driving operational efficiency and staying ahead of regulatory and market changes. Working side-by-side with improving collaboration and communication, leaders should also encourage openness about ideas and diverse thinking, creating innovative solutions to challenges faced.

4. Ethics and compliance

Ethical decision-making is fundamental to financial services, yet research highlights a gap in professionals consistently acting ethically under pressure. Strengthening compliance training ensures employees uphold regulatory and organizational standards.

Building a future-ready finance team

Understanding your workforce’s strengths and gaps is the first step to building a resilient, future-ready organization. In a dynamic environment, organizations must evaluate employees based on their skillsets rather than rigid job descriptions. Skills-based assessments provide a clear snapshot of your talent, informing both hiring and internal development strategies. By identifying skills gaps and strengths, organizations can adapt quickly and position themselves ahead of the competition.

Employees want to grow. As financial institutions embrace automation, AI, and fintech innovations, employees need new technical and analytical skills to remain competitive. Creating a culture that supports continuous learning, upskilling, and developing an effective internal mobility strategy not only closes skills gaps but also boosts engagement and retention. The smartest organizations are already using skills data to map career paths, and identify transferable capabilities, allowing businesses to access untapped talent pools or redeploy talent into emerging roles rather than losing experienced employees.

For more detail about how Financial Services candidates performed across a range of skills including the 15 essential skills that contribute to success, download our latest research: Bridging the Skills Gap: Essential Skills for Success in Financial Services