Our Top 6 Predictions for Financial Services Hiring Trends in 2026

In case you missed it, we recently launched our brand-new Financial Services Hiring Trends Report for 2025 which focuses on Digital, Technology, Change and Transformation hiring in the Financial Services sector during 2025.

The Report shows the positive news that there’s been a 12% increase in industry wide vacancies, with all signs pointing towards an optimistic and energised 2026 in the finance sector.

With the signals clear that financial services employers are beginning to re-engage with long-term workforce planning, in this blog we get stuck into some of our six top predictions for Financial Services hiring throughout the rest of 2026.

Let’s get started!

1 Increase in hiring intentions

We’re predicting an increase in hiring intentions throughout the rest of 2026, backed up by recent survey data from KPMG that’s reported that 55% of financial services firms are planning to hire more staff this year than they did in 2025.

The focus of these hiring strategies also appear to be very much technology led, with data indicating that 57% of those firms planning to hire intending to invest in AI skills. This could indicate a clear shift this year towards digital capability and AI transformation.

2 Growing business confidence

According to many business leaders across Sanderson, there’s a clear theme emerging showing growing confidence among financial services employers. This is a theme we predict to continue through the rest of the year as many of our recruiters are expecting new vacancies to emerge from major banks finally progressing with their long-awaited and large-scale digitalisation projects.

We’re also predicting an uptick in the industry-wide appetite for strategic leadership as well as future investment in technology and change projects. A prediction backed up by many of our recruitment teams noticing a number of senior hires being prepared throughout Q1.

3 Steadier market conditions

We’re anticipating that the market will start to steady out quickly during the start of 2026 thanks to optimistic regional fintech investment as well as large public sector investment. This is backed up by the Bank of England going public with its desire to expand regionally and even allocate 50% of it’s roles outside of London by 2027.

4 Reignition of DEI programmes

Our recruitment teams are also predicting a reignition of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) programmes throughout the financial services sector. This aligns with companies in the sector becoming less reactive in their hiring and moving towards more deliberate hiring with clearer strategies to attack the marker and then deliver on long-term projects.

5 Larger candidate supply

Another prediction we’re making for 2026 financial services hiring is that the start of this year will see some of the largest candidate supply opportunities that we’ve seen since the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. This is backed up by recent KPMG data reporting that the end of 2025 saw permanent labour availability rise at its fastest rate in four months.

And what might this mean for financial services decision makers? Well, we’d expect organisations to be well positioned to reach any immediate transformation goals thanks to access to a strong pool of talented Project Managers, Business Analysts and Testers being available to tap into.

6 Stable salaries

Our recruiters are expecting stable salary conditions for the start of 2026. Despite busy hiring markets towards the end of last year, current salary trends are not implying that a big spike in salaries is on the cards. Combine this with current market activity showing steady but controlled competition, we’re predicting that salary conditions will balance out rather than overheat as we progress through the start of the year.

How to get ahead of your financial services hiring in 2026

We’re optimistic that thanks to greater market clarity and larger talent pools being available, businesses in the financial services sector will be able to bolster their teams with talented hires that can deliver on long-term strategies and goals.

So with this in mind, now may be the time to reassess your hiring strategies, enhance your understanding of emerging technologies and address your skills gaps with the right blend of permanent or contractor talent.

To get yourself feeling more prepared to tackle the year, why not download your own copy of our new Financial Services Hiring Trends Report which reflects on and provides insight into how market trends have shaped hiring throughout the Financial Services sector, as well as providing market-leading data to help organisations like yours position yourself competitively to secure top talent in an increasingly dynamic market.

Set yourself up for success by downloading a copy of the Report here: