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Hiring trends in financial services and banking just went from "challenging" to "hold my kombucha and watch this."
We're not talking about your standard "we need more compliance officers" moment. We're looking at regulatory tsunamis, AI governance nightmares, and talent wars that make the Hunger Games look like a friendly office potluck.
Every "quick hire" in finance talent acquisition now involves more compliance checks than a presidential security clearance.
But here's the thing: while your competitors are drowning in regulatory panic, you can turn this chaos into your secret weapon.
Major Changes Reshaping Recruitment And Hiring For Financial Institutions In 2025
The regulatory environment just got a complete makeover, and if you're not staffing for these changes, you're already behind. Here are the game-changing shifts every CPO needs on their radar.
EU DORA Compliance Creates Operational Resilience Hiring Rush
The Digital Operational Resilience Act went live on January 17, 2025, and suddenly every banking recruitment trend involves someone who can spell "ICT risk management" without autocorrect.
Banks across the EU are scrambling to staff up operational resilience, third-party risk management (TPRM), cybersecurity, and incident response teams faster than you can say "regulatory compliance nightmare."
Bottom line: If your candidates have DORA experience, they're basically unicorns with security clearances.
AI Act Obligations Transform HR Tech Stacks
The EU AI Act's key prohibitions kicked in February 2, 2025, with general-purpose AI duties starting August 2025.
This isn't just about being AI-friendly anymore; it's about having AI governance frameworks that won't get you sued.
For talent acquisition strategy teams, this means your hiring tools need annual bias audits in markets like NYC, and your AI in banking recruitment approach requires transparency documentation that would make a law firm proud.
Basel Capital Rules Flux Reshapes Risk Talent Priorities
Regulators signaled easing and revisions in July and August 2025, which completely changed modeling, capital, and stress testing hiring priorities. The original transition path ran from July 1, 2025, through mid-2028, and many banks had already staffed for it.
Now? Time to pivot faster than a startup with a new business model.
T+1 Settlement Reshapes Post-Trade Operations
The US moved to T+1 settlement in May 2024, and 2025 financial services hiring trends are all about skills in trade matching, exception management, and collateral optimization.
Faster settlement cycles add pressure on confirmations and fails management, pushing demand for automation talent through the roof.
Instant Payments Scale Drives Treasury Operations Hiring
About 1,400+ institutions are on FedNow by mid-2025, with 1,000+ live on RTP. This drives massive need for payments operations, treasury, and cash-management roles.
But here's the kicker: faster payments also raise APP and account-takeover risks, expanding AML, fraud analytics, and identity-verification hiring.
Return-To-Office Versus Hybrid Creates Talent Pool Wars
JPMorgan and Goldman tightened in-office rules in 2025, which narrows candidate pools in legacy hubs.
Meanwhile, Standard Chartered is sticking with a flexible hybrid, which helps retention and broadens talent reach.
Translation: Your remote work finance industry strategy just became a competitive weapon.
Skills-First Hiring Accelerates Beyond Banking
LinkedIn's March 2025 research shows skills-based approaches unlock larger, more diverse pools for finance roles. Public sector momentum toward skills-first hiring in finance adds tailwinds and normalizes assessments over degrees.
This means your data-driven hiring in banking approach can finally focus on what people can actually do instead of where they went to school 15 years ago.
AI In Hiring Grows With New Compliance Guardrails
Most HR leaders report adopting AI in 2025, which boosts speed but still requires human oversight.
Legal scrutiny is real. Just ask Workday about their bias lawsuit, which means compliance and validation skills are table stakes for TA tech stacks.
Cloud And Third-Party Risk Talent Becomes Premium
Treasury's cloud practices and the OCC's 2025 risk report keep cloud resilience, SRE, cyber, and vendor-risk roles in high demand. Global watchdogs continue warning on outsourcing and concentration risk, which expands governance hiring.
Private Credit Continues Bank Talent Raids
Nonbank lenders expanded hiring in distressed credit and portfolio operations in early 2025. The private credit asset class continues to scale, pulling credit risk and structuring talent from traditional banks.
Reality check: Your retention strategy better include competitive compensation packages and career development paths that rival private markets.
Investment Banking Hiring Remains Volatile
First-half 2025 deal value rebounded, yet activity remained fragile, dampening permanent headcount growth. Recruiters warned of more cuts if uncertainty persists, keeping many bankers in wait-and-see mode.
Key Statistics Every CPO Should Know
The numbers don't lie – and they're telling a story that should make every financial institutions’ hiring stats analyst reach for their calculator.
Here's what matters in 2025:
- 65% of companies plan to expand finance teams in 2025, with finance singled out as the growth area.
- 70% of finance and accounting leaders are increasing use of contract talent in H2 2025, showing the shift toward flexible staffing models.
- Just over half of banks plan to add commercial or business lending staff this year, according to the Bank Director's survey.
- About one-third of banks plan to increase technology or IT staff in 2025, reflecting ongoing digital transformation needs.
- 85% of banks say compensation expenses rose last year, with a median 5% increase putting pressure on talent budgets.
- 30% of bank leaders lack an effective succession plan for C-suite roles beyond the CEO – a massive risk management gap.
- 73% of banks plan to use mentoring to build an executive bench over the next three years, showing focus on internal development.
- 52% of banks would likely hire senior talent from outside the institution or industry to strengthen leadership.
- 41% of banks added staff to BSA and AML functions over the past 18 months, driven by regulatory pressure.
- 86% of banks implemented ongoing staff education to combat fraud in the past year, creating demand for training specialists.
- AI-specific roles in banking grew 13% in the six months to March 2025, showing rapid adoption.
- AI roles at major banks increased from 60,000 to nearly 80,000 between late 2023 and March 2025.
- The top 10 banks now hold nearly half of the sector's AI talent, creating concentration risk for smaller institutions.
- Dedicated responsible AI roles reached 138 people across 30 of the top 50 banks, up 21% in six months.
- 73% of financial institutions have two or fewer full-time employees managing vendor risk while overseeing 300+ vendors.
- Nearly half of institutions experienced a third-party cyber event last year, elevating TPRM hiring needs.
- Only 25% of European financial entities feel compliant with DORA ICT risk management requirements.
- Only 8% report full compliance on DORA third-party risk and resilience testing – a massive skills gap.
- 57% of surveyed banks lack a formal DEI program that tracks metrics, up from 42% a year earlier.
- 73% of talent acquisition professionals say AI will change how organizations hire in 2025.
What This Means For Your Organization
The regulatory chaos isn't slowing down – it's accelerating. Employer branding finance strategies that worked in 2024 are already obsolete.
Your candidate experience in banking now competes with private credit firms offering better packages and fintech startups promising actual innovation.
Banking workforce planning requires different math now. Traditional succession planning assumes stability that doesn't exist. When 30% of bank leaders lack C-suite succession plans and 57% don't track DEI metrics, you're not just behind. You're gambling with organizational survival.
The winners will be institutions that treat talent in intelligence banking as seriously as market intelligence. Stop thinking of HR as a support function and start treating it as competitive intelligence.
Ready To Build A Front Office Worthy Of A Championship?
We get it. Every decision your execs make is public, emotional, and high-stakes. You don't need another vendor sending resumes. You need a partner who delivers leaders built for banking and finance.
Through platforms like our Aeon hiring software, we combine data intelligence with human expertise to identify the leaders your organization actually needs.
Schedule a call with our team and see how MSH brings clarity and forward progress.
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