The finance sector is constantly evolving how it conducts business. Whether the global financial services workforce has the skills to respond to those demands is the focus of several new studies.

LHH, a talent solutions provider and global business unit of the Adecco Group, launched the three-year international Readiness Index study to uncover implicit and explicit factors that influence workers' attitudes about their readiness for the future of work. LHH surveyed 2,000 participants in the financial sectors across the US, UK, and France and determined a global readiness score of 7.7 out of 10. The study also found that Americans are 10 percent more ready than British workers.

Despite that readiness, the study found that workers ages 45–54 are most worried about technology replacing them. Those individuals work 40 percent harder than their peers to update their skills and knowledge about emerging technologies. And those concerns aren't unwarranted. In its report, Top Priorities for Finance Leaders in 2022: The Path to Autonomous Finance, Gartner identifies several key digital priorities for financial services staff, such as technological literacy, advancing robotic process automation, implementing cloud-based solutions, managing cybersecurity, and understanding digital currencies.

Talent development professionals can help by upskilling learners, but that won't be without challenges. E-learning authoring tool and platform Elucidat surveyed more than 250 L&D professionals and 800-plus learners to identify key upskilling and reskilling challenges and opportunities for the industry.

Companies face constant pressure to move quickly on compliance or regulation changes or risk serious fines. But the study found that strict governance and the involvement of multiple stakeholders can slow down learning solutions development. Four out of five surveyed L&D leaders said they struggle to respond at speed, manage stakeholder expectations, and maintain quality. As such, some L&D teams are exploring how to use artificial intelligence to help them personalize learning to make it easier to upskill employees and ready them for changes to the industry.

"2022 will be a make-or-break year when it comes to unlocking the value of AI, hyperautomation, digital skills, continuous processes and data management," writes Alexander Bant, chief of research for chief financial officers at Gartner. He adds that finance leaders who "continue to drive toward the future of autonomous finance will unlock immense value for their organization in the years to come."