UBS is asking prospective junior investment bankers to prove that they know how to use artificial intelligence (AI). With this move, one of the world’s largest private banks is making AI proficiency part of its hiring process for graduates and interns joining its global banking and markets divisions in 2027. The Swiss bank is among the first large financial institutions to explicitly require AI literacy for junior banking candidates.A Financial Times report cited people familiar with the matter, who said the bank wants candidates to show how they can use AI to “improve outcomes and efficiency”. The requirement will sit alongside more traditional criteria, including being on track to obtain a 2.1 undergraduate degree, and AI “fluency” questions will be added to recruitment interviews for graduate trainees and interns.
Why UBS is testing AI skills in junior bankers
The updated interview questions will focus on how candidates have used AI, not whether they know about the technology. The requirement is part of a wider shift in the skills banks are looking for as they deploy AI tools to tasks traditionally done by junior staff.This includes tasks such as financial analysis, research and preparing presentations for clients. UBS said the AI requirement would also apply to other newly advertised roles across the firm, suggesting the focus on AI capabilities is not limited to its graduate and internship programmes.UBS said: “We continuously review our recruitment criteria to ensure they reflect the skills we need. As AI is fundamentally reshaping financial services, AI capabilities and experiences have become an important aspect of future professional success and are as such relevant recruiting criteria.”
How UBS is using AI internally
Apart from hiring, UBS has also been experimenting with AI in its internal operations. The bank has created analyst avatars that can deliver video presentations to clients, freeing staff to focus on other tasks.UBS said: “AI literacy complements, rather than replaces, the academic, analytical and interpersonal skills that remain core to our approach to hiring talent.”
Other banks are also looking for AI users
UBS is not the only bank adding AI skills to its recruitment criteria. Spain’s Santander has explicitly sought “advanced AI users” for some graduate programmes in its corporate and investment bank, according to company filings.This is happening as financial institutions use AI to automate routine processes to reduce the risk of job losses, an issue being flagged across the industry. In recent predictions made by Morgan Stanley analysts, over 200,000 jobs in the European banking sector are set to become redundant within the next five years.
How banks face a training challenge
Some banking executives have warned that greater reliance on AI should not come at the expense of basic financial and banking knowledge. Conor Hillery, JPMorgan Chase’s co-head for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said at the FT’s global banking summit last year that lenders needed to be “very careful” that employees did not “lose an understanding of the basics and fundamentals”.JPMorgan was seeking to strike a balance between using AI to streamline simple processes and educating young employees on banking basics through core skills, Hillery opined. If technology took over responsibilities usually given to new recruits, they would have no opportunity to learn the basics through practical work.
