(FT Article) UBS IB to Feed Clients AI Slop

UBS demands new junior bankers show AI proficiency

Graduates and interns hoping to join Swiss bank must show they can use the technology to improve outcomes and efficiency
 

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UBS is demanding that prospective junior investment bankers show proficiency in AI as a hiring requirement, in a sign of how the technology is reshaping graduate recruitment at some of Europe’s biggest lenders. The Swiss group is requiring prospective graduates and interns joining its global banking and markets divisions in 2027 to demonstrate how they can use AI to “improve outcomes and efficiency”, according to people familiar with the matter.

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The new stipulation sits alongside more traditional requirements such as being on track to obtain a 2.1 undergraduate degree, making UBS one of the first major financial institutions to explicitly require AI literacy for junior bankers.

One person familiar with UBS’s move said AI “fluency” questions would be added to recruitment interviews for graduate trainees and interns, testing candidates on how they have used the technology.

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UBS has itself been experimenting with the technology in novel ways, including creating avatars of analysts that can deliver video presentations to clients, which the lender has said will free up staff to focus on more productive tasks. One person familiar with UBS’s move said the AI proficiency requirement would also apply to other newly advertised roles across the firm. 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. “AI literacy complements, rather than replaces, the academic, analytical and interpersonal skills that remain core to our approach to hiring talent.”