Why AI Literacy is the Key to a Productive Finance Workforce

Published: September 10, 2026

AI has changed the benchmark for employability. Discuss. Theo Wasserberg, Head of UK and Ireland, Embat, does just that.

The job market for young people is tough. In the UK alone, new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal that some 16.1% of people aged 16 to 24 are not able to find work, compared with a national unemployment figure of 5.1%.

With so much uncertainty facing young people – not to mention a difficult job market for those already in the workforce – it’s clearer than ever that there are different pathways to economic prosperity.

In order to prepare for the future world of work, not just the current one, this single element is non-negotiable: AI literacy must be at the centre of learning and development. And this isn’t only true for young people.

Rewiring for work

There’s no question that AI is a fundamental shift in how we work. Anxiety about AI is high as we all grapple with its potential impact on our careers. Yet these concerns are rarely based on reality. The Financial Services Skills Commission reports that while almost every role in financial services is likely to be changed by AI, only around 1.5% of workers may require ‘expert’ AI skills.

Remember the fears about Excel killing off accountants? If anything, we now have more accountants than ever. The internet, cloud computing, and mobile applications democratised access to key services for billions of people and lowered the barriers to entry for innovation and entrepreneurship. Just think about how we make and receive payments globally. And most importantly, we saw the creation of jobs.

We’ll see something similar with AI. Remember, in most cases AI won’t automate an entire job end-to-end; it frees up a few hours a day for more valuable work and greater productivity.

Skills for success

So, what skills will employees need to differentiate themselves and stand out in an AI world? Start with building a more strategic mindset. That requires systems thinking, an engineering brain, and an aptitude for problem solving and pattern spotting.

I compare it with football. It’s not about how an individual plays on the field but how they work together to achieve a particular outcome. You have to move from thinking like a football player to a football manager.

Education will also have to change. The way we learn finance today is very transaction-orientated. ‘If a customer pays x, then I record y on the books.’

The next level is teaching how to think about the broader finance of the business. ‘How would I use AI in real life to resolve this scenario?’

Curricula will also need to incorporate soft skills because alongside qualifications, demand will grow for people who demonstrate sound judgment, strong communication, and critical thinking, including the ability to monitor, challenge, and correct AI systems.

AI Attraction

Most financial services firms have limited resources. They can’t hire more people to handle transactions, so when they deploy AI, they don’t fire their existing finance staff – they pivot to carrying out value-add work instead.

That’s great for companies, but it’s a significant benefit for employees too. Who wants to spend their day reconciling 15 comma-separated values (CSVs) or running mundane database analysis? Wouldn’t you rather work in an organisation where you can have a two-way conversation with your finance systems, generate live forecasts, and build dynamic scenarios?

In fact, I’d argue that in our industry, AI adoption will actually attract better applicants. Most joiners spend their first couple of years doing manual, low-level work. But what 18-year-old wants to do that? It’s not very appealing now; in a few years it will be an impossible sales pitch. Young people will flock to firms that are using AI because they’ll offer more important, nuanced, and enjoyable work.

The same logic applies to those of us who are already in the industry. Finance is a custodian of extremely valuable, structured data but all too often we don’t have the time to extract its full value.

When you’re running an agentic model effectively, you can give the business that critical data much more quickly, often close to real-time. And, just as with industry newcomers, mid- and senior-level staff get the time and space to provide strategic insight to the business.

So, it’s time for a reset and a shift in mindset. AI has changed the benchmark for employability. This shouldn’t be a source of anxiety; it’s a source of opportunity. In an increasingly difficult job market, learning how to work alongside AI will help you to stand out. The work itself will also be much more enjoyable.