G A U G I N G T H E M A R K E T
G A U G I N G T H E M A R K E T
LACK OF UPSKILLING AND LOW REGULATORY PREPAREDNESS IS HOLDING BACK DEEPER GENAI ADOPTION WITHIN EUROPEAN FINANCIAL SERVICES FIRMS
eaders across Europe ’ s financial services sector continue to integrate Artificial
L
Intelligence ( AI ) and Generative AI
( GenAI ) technologies into their operations to achieve productivity and efficiency uplifts , according to the second EY European Financial Services AI Survey – but only 9 % rank themselves ahead of the curve .
Whilst leaders ’ aspirations for a more AI-enabled business are high and 28 % say they have accelerated overall AI adoption over the last year , most firms remain in the early , experimental stages , especially when it comes to GenAI .
The new survey data , which canvassed the views of European financial services executives at over 100 firms representing an aggregate market cap of almost € 880 billion , found only 31 % of firms across Europe believe they are on track with overall AI integration . Just 11 % of executives say their firm is prepared for incoming AI regulation , and despite 78 % acknowledging their workforce has only some , limited or no experience of the newest GenAI-related technologies , only a quarter of firms have established new training and upskilling programmes , with 60 % still in the planning phase .
According to the EY European Financial Services AI Survey , the majority ( 90 %) of firms surveyed have adopted AI into operations to some degree , but most remain in the early stages and 8 % have not integrated AI at all .
“ GenAI continues to sit high on the agenda for financial services leadership teams , promising well-acknowledged new levels of productivity gain ,” said Omar Ali , EY Global Financial Services Leader . “ There is little doubt within the sector that harnessing AI – and increasingly GenAI – is game-changing , but the implementation of an evolving technology , to budget , within risk appetite and across an entire workforce , is hugely complex and challenging . Whilst some firms have made huge leaps in adopting AI and have seen real benefits , many are struggling to keep pace .
“ GenAI is developing faster than many other technological innovations of recent times , and demands new , progressive skill sets ,” added Ali . “ The firms that ramp up regulatory preparations , build an appropriate risk and control framework and roll out essential new training and upskilling programmes across their whole workforce – not just to the technical few – will be setting themselves apart from the competition .” www . intelligentfin . tech
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