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Across the 50 banks tracked in the Evident AI Index, more than 112,000 individuals are involved in bringing AI to market across AI Development, Data Engineering, Model Risk, and AI-focused Implementation positions. This pool of talent has grown 9% over the last six months, despite widespread layoffs across the banking sector.
To date, the North American banks have led the way when it comes to AI talent. US banks occupied four of the top-five spots in the Talent pillar of the Evident AI Index last November. These established leaders include: Capital One (ranked #1), JPMorgan Chase (#2), Wells Fargo (#4), and Citigroup (#5). This performance reflects the long-term investment by these banks into attracting, retaining, and developing AI and data talent. UBS led the way in Europe (ranked #3 overall).
North American banks continue to lead over their European counterparts, with every indication that this established advantage in AI talent is set to continue. As of March 2024, the latest cut of Evident AI Index Talent data, the average US bank employs 2.2x the volume of AI talent compared to their European counterparts. Furthermore, US banks posted 1.6x more AI Development job openings compared to their European peers over the past six months, a strong indication of future dominance.
JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, and Citigroup are driving ahead. Not only do these banks have large, existing talent pools (employing 22% of all AI talent across the 50 banks), but they continue to be actively recruiting for new talent (38% of recent AI job posts) – suggesting that they will pull ahead even further in the coming months. These three banks are also the top recruiters for Generative AI roles, accounting for 54% of all Gen AI-specific job listings over the past six months.
We observe strong growth in Europe, but these banks are still playing catch-up. The overall pool of AI talent has grown across all regions over the past six months, particularly in Europe. The UK banks have grown fastest (+12.2% increase in AI roles), followed by the rest of Europe (+10.5%), and then the US (+9.9%) – indicating a robust growth trajectory.
Among the European banks, Deutsche Bank and Santander have increased AI headcount fastest over the past six months. By demonstrating outsized gains in AI talent, these two banks join Barclays, HSBC, and BNP Paribas in driving the regional growth trends highlighted above.
Deutsche Bank, Groupe BPCE, and Intesa Sanpaolo account for 7.8% of new AI job listings between October 2023 and April 2024. This forward-looking indicator suggests this cohort is hiring faster than their European peers, and signals their intention to expand AI talent pools further in 2H 2024.
Universities are key to AI talent recruitment. 62% of all AI talent at Index banks is hired directly from a university. 19% is sourced from another sector (e.g. technology or consulting firms), and 13% originates from other banks. Wells Fargo wins the inter-bank AI talent war, hiring 1.9x more AI talent from other banks than it loses to its immediate peers.
In addition to recruiting external talent, banks are focused on training and development initiatives across their existing talent pool – educating the leaders, retraining the builders, and upskilling the intended users of promising AI tools and applications.
