THREE-quarters of the financial services industry is being ‘held back’ by a lack of digital skills leaving significant gaps in workforces, according to new research from strategic talent solutions partner FDM Group.
A staggering 75 per cent of workers believe that their organisation has struggled to fill vacancies requiring digital skills, rising to 83 per cent of workers aged 18-24, holding back the UK from becoming a global Science and Technology superpower.
The findings follow a survey of 250 decision makers at UK financial institutions and banks, polled via independent polling agency Censuswide, to discover how financial services are being affected by the current skills crisis.
In a digitally advancing world, 91 per cent of workers believe that improved digital skills would support the implementation of technology at their organisation highlighting the need for more opportunities for upskilling and training to allow organisations to enjoy the use of emerging technologies.
It was also revealed that 86 per cent of workers agree that their organisation prioritised staff training and digital skills, with this figure rising to 92 per cent of females that agreed.
Sheila Flavell CBE, Chief Operating Officer of FDM Group commented: “Tech skills are essential across all industries, especially financial services with the increasing adoption in areas such as AI and analytics. A lack of tech proficient staff is holding back the industry from effectively implementing new technologies and is ultimately stunting the growth of many financial services institutions.”
“While workers may believe their organisations prioritises training, clearly more must be done to support those wishing to gain new skills and a new approach should be taken to ensure individuals are being trained, skilled and re-skilled in the necessary areas. Technology can provide huge benefits to organisations, allowing processes to be made easier, services to be made more efficient and operations generally to become more seamless. For the UK to achieve its goal and cement itself as a global Science and Technology superpower, government and businesses must come together to re-think their approach to both educating and training the nation in digital skills in order to maximise the benefits of the technology that is available.”
“Providing access to greater training and upskilling, through means such as outsourcing or graduate programmes, can offer a wider pool of staff the opportunity to improve their skills and plug the skills gap within the industry” Flavell added.
