General finance is the most in-demand industry-specific skill, while risk management is the top growing in terms of skills mentions.
Industry-specific skill demand
The most in-demand skills are general finance, agile software development and investment management. Communication, initiative and leadership, and personal attributes (e.g. right attitude/mindset) are also important, with over 80 per cent of job advertisements within the industry mentioning one or more of these skills.
Most mentioned industry-specific skills in 2024 as a share of job advertisements
Industry-specific skill | Share of job ads |
|---|---|
General finance | 31.6% |
Agile software | 10.5% |
Investment management | 9.4% |
Banking services | 9.3% |
General lending | 7.5% |
Scripting languages | 6.2% |
Financial analysis | 5.9% |
Web design and | 5.6% |
Financial trading | 5.2% |
Query languages | 5.1% |
Growing skills mentions within industry
Skills increasingly being mentioned in job advertisements within the financial and insurance services industry are risk management, business strategy and process improvement and optimisation.
Note: these exclude industry-specific skills already identified as being in high demand.
Growing skills as a percentage point difference in job advertisement mentions from 2019 to 2024
Industry-specific skill | Percentage of job ad mentions in 2019 | Percentage of job ad mentions in 2024 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
Risk management | 16.5% | 22.2% | 5.7% |
Business strategy | 18.0% | 22.4% | 4.4% |
Process improvement and optimisation | 13.0% | 17.0% | 4.0% |
Market analysis | 3.8% | 7.4% | 3.6% |
General accounting | 12.4% | 16.0% | 3.6% |
Project management | 21.6% | 24.5% | 2.9% |
Business analysis | 16.1% | 18.9% | 2.8% |
Underwriting | 1.8% | 4.6% | 2.7% |
Business operations | 8.8% | 11.5% | 2.6% |
Employee training | 1.0% | 3.6% | 2.6% |
Updated