How macro forces, from agentic AI to Gen Z attrition, are rewriting the talent equation in banking, markets and wealth.
Financial services has always been comfortable with technology, but the current wave of AI is different. It is no longer just a tool that speeds up existing processes, it is starting to behave like a coworker. The McKinsey State of AI survey finds that 88 percent of organisations now use AI, and around 62 percent are experimenting with AI agents that can carry out multi step work with limited human intervention (McKinsey, 2025).
In finance teams specifically, McKinsey reports that almost half of CFOs already use generative AI for at least five use cases, and two thirds plan to increase investment again in 2025 (How finance teams are putting AI to work today). At the same time, a new class of agentic AI is emerging. Deloitte describes agents as systems that can reason with large language models, call external tools and learn from past interactions, looking increasingly like digital colleagues rather than standalone apps (Deloitte, Agentic AI).
Yet the gap between ambition and reality is still wide. A recent study shows that while 71 percent of companies say they are using agentic AI, only 11 percent of use cases reached production last year, largely because executives do not yet trust agents to operate inside critical workflows (TechRadar summary). Financial institutions are feeling this tension acutely, caught between the promise of fully digital operating models and the fear of opaque, poorly governed automation.
The demographic picture makes the challenge even sharper. KPMG’s UK Financial Services Sentiment Survey reports that around one in four Gen Z employees left financial services in the last year, and nearly half of financial services leaders have seen rising attrition among staff under 30, especially in banking (KPMG, 2025). These younger professionals, digital natives with entrepreneurial mindsets, are drawn to roles that offer meaningful problems, flexibility and visible impact. Many will happily leave if they feel they are only feeding a machine rather than shaping how it is used.
This sits alongside a structural shift in how organisations think about people. Deloitte’s 2025 Global Human Capital Trends highlights the move towards skills based models and human sustainability, arguing that employers will need to redesign their employee value proposition for an AI powered world (Deloitte, 2025). The report is blunt, technology investment only pays off when it is matched by serious attention to capability, culture and governance.
For boards and executive teams in financial services, the conclusion is clear. AI can no longer be left as a side project in an innovation lab. It has become a core question of operating model and workforce design. Agentic systems will change how work is sliced, who owns which decisions and what skills are scarce. At the same time, Gen Z attrition and tighter regulation are putting pressure on institutions to create careers that are both entrepreneurial and well governed.
Treating AI as “just another tool” misses the point. The real challenge is to design an algorithmic workforce where humans and intelligent systems are deliberately combined, with technology amplifying judgement rather than hollowing it out. Firms that embrace this, invest in skills at scale and rebuild trust around how AI is used will not only keep their best people, they will be the ones who turn disruption into durable competitive advantage.
