UBS Sets AI Fluency as a New Bar for Junior Investment Bankers

Graduates and interns hoping to join UBS‘s global banking and markets arm in 2027 will need to prove they can use AI, the Financial Times reports.

The bank already expects a 2:1 degree, and AI ability now joins that list.

Job losses loom across banking

AI is taking on more banking work, and branches are closing. Morgan Stanley forecasts more than 200,000 European banking jobs could be at risk within five years.

Conor Hillery leads JPMorgan’s business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He cautioned in December that banks must make sure staff do not “lose an understanding of the basics and fundamentals”.

JPMorgan wants AI to speed up basic tasks without cutting junior training.

AI questions join the interview process

Graduate and intern interviews will include AI questions. These test real use of the tools, not just familiarity, people close to the matter say.

Santander’s own filings show a similar approach, seeking confident AI users among its investment bank graduate hires.

AI already used elsewhere at UBS

UBS’s AI experiments go beyond hiring too. It has used digital avatars to deliver client presentations, freeing staff for other work.

The AI bar could also reach other new roles at the bank, people close to the matter say.

UBS said it reviews its hiring rules to match the skills it needs. It added that AI ability has become “an important aspect of future professional success” for recruits.

The bank stresses this is complementary, not a stand-in for what it has always looked for in graduate hires.

Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by UBS via its website.

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