Fintech Renewal in October 2024: Artificial Intelligence Sparks a Revival in Financial Technology
In the dynamic world of fintech, artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an increasingly significant role, reshaping jobs, enhancing productivity, and creating new roles that blend human and AI capabilities.
Last month, Mercury announced the acquisition of Teal, a seed-stage startup that builds accounting products, while Klarna shut down using Salesforce and Workday as service providers in favour of custom AI-native software. Hopscotch, an invoicing software provider for small businesses, also announced its sale to Avalara on September 8.
AI is significantly transforming fintech jobs by automating routine tasks and enhancing strategic roles. This transformation is characterized by a surge in AI-related job titles, specialized AI-focused roles commanding salary premiums, and AI integration across recruitment, onboarding, and employee management processes in the financial sector.
Fintech firms now use AI to screen resumes, flag employees at risk of burnout, suggest personalized learning paths, and support diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. AI is also bolstering cybersecurity and compliance roles, reducing major security incidents by up to 30%. AI is enabling a fourfold increase in productivity growth within financial services, leading to higher revenue per employee and a surge in jobs that combine human insight with AI capabilities.
AI is also being used to automate repetitive tasks, such as AI-generated code and automation. Tech giants like Microsoft report that up to 30% of their code is now written by AI, a trend reflected in fintech where AI copilots assist developers, analysts, and other professionals.
While explicit company names using AI copilots and agents in fintech are not listed, major industry players and technology leaders such as Microsoft and Meta are noted for their AI investments that likely influence fintech operations broadly.
Successful fintech models can trade better than traditional banks, as demonstrated by American Express earning 75%+ of its revenues via fees, generating a 30%+ ROE, and being valued at >5x book value. Fintech companies with bank licenses do not automatically trade like banks; valuations are nuanced and depend on the nature of the company's business model.
In the new AI product cycle, labor in the fintech world is becoming software, leading to potential AI-powered augmentation of white-collar jobs, such as compliance officers. Companies like Moov offer payments, Sardine and Sentilink offer fraud and compliance solutions, and Spade offers real-time merchant intelligence.
The financial services industry has unparalleled scale, with $5T+ of gross profit and $30T+ of global public market cap. Companies that crack the code of building an efficient economic model with high growth potential have the opportunity to become the next big public success story.
In conclusion, the impact of AI on fintech jobs in 2025 is profound—reshaping talent strategies, increasing productivity, and creating new roles that blend human and AI capabilities, with companies using AI copilots and agents to automate, secure, and optimize financial services operations. The future of fintech is exciting, with AI set to play a pivotal role in its continued evolution.
References: [1] McKinsey & Company. (2021). The future of work in fintech: Seizing the opportunities of AI and automation. [2] Deloitte. (2021). The AI-powered fintech talent of the future. [3] PwC. (2021). Global AI Jobs Barometer. [4] Microsoft. (2021). Code with AI: The future of coding.
Fintech companies are increasingly integrating artificially intelligent (AI) software into their operations, such as automating resume screening and bolstering cybersecurity roles, leading to a surge in AI-related job titles demanding premium salaries. In addition, the financial services industry is leveraging AI to automate repetitive tasks, like AI-generated code and automation, with up to 30% of code now being written by AI, as reported by tech giants like Microsoft.
