Rethinking Talent Acquisition in Banking, Finance and Insurance

Ask almost any HR leader in Ghana’s banking, finance or insurance sector about hiring, and you’ll hear a familiar story. Hundreds of applications arrive for a single vacancy, sometimes thousands, yet building a strong shortlist remains surprisingly difficult.

The challenge is not a shortage of applicants. It is the increasing complexity of identifying people who can succeed in an industry that is changing faster than ever. Institutions that build the strongest teams over the next five years are unlikely to be those that fill vacancies the fastest. They will be those that understand how their talent market has changed and adjust their hiring strategies accordingly.

Part of that story begins with Ghana’s banking sector clean-up. Between 2017 and 2019, mergers, licence revocations and market exits reshaped the industry. Beyond reducing the number of institutions, the exercise changed the labour market. Some professionals left banking altogether, while others became more deliberate about where they chose to build their careers.

That shift coincided with the rapid growth of digital financial services, creating new opportunities for professionals with banking experience and expanding the range of employers competing for the same skills.

The Competition Has Moved Beyond Banking

If the banking sector clean-up reshaped the market, the rapid growth of digital financial services has accelerated that change.

According to the Bank of Ghana (2024)¹, fintechs in Ghana processed more than GH¢514 billion in transactions in the first quarter of 2024 alone, while the country continues to rank among the world’s leading mobile money markets. Financial services are no longer delivered exclusively by banks. Telecommunications companies, fintechs and technology firms are now competing for the same customers and, increasingly, the same talent.

The sales executive, compliance specialist, data analyst or digital product manager that a bank hopes to recruit may also be considering opportunities in fintech, telecommunications or technology companies. Experienced professionals have more options than they did a decade ago, and employers are recruiting in a much broader labour market.

What We See From the Marketplace

Recruitment data often tells a different story from application numbers.

Across our work with employers in banking, finance and insurance, we regularly see vacancies attract substantial interest while producing relatively few candidates who meet the full requirements of the role. High application volume should not be mistaken for strong talent supply. The real constraint for many employers is the quality of the shortlist, not the size of the applicant pool.

The pattern is particularly evident in specialist and leadership positions. In recent recruitment assignments, roles such as Chief Financial Officer, Compliance, Audit, Banking Operations, Digital Sales, Digital Innovation and Transformation, Business Development, Recovery and Relationship Management have consistently proved the most difficult to shortlist.

The challenge is rarely a lack of applicants. Employers are looking for professionals who combine technical expertise with commercial judgement, industry knowledge and, increasingly, the ability to work across digital environments. Those combinations remain relatively scarce.

We are also seeing sustained demand for capabilities in compliance, digital transformation, data and customer-facing commercial roles. Banks are not the only organisations looking for these skills. Fintechs, payment service providers and other businesses operating in financial services are recruiting from the same talent pool, increasing competition for experienced professionals.

These observations provide employers with a perspective that vacancy reports alone cannot. They show where capability is becoming scarce, where hiring timelines are likely to extend and where organisations may need to rethink how they attract talent.

Recruitment Is Increasingly a Business Decision

Once competition extends beyond traditional rivals, recruitment becomes more than an HR function. It becomes a business decision.

For years, banks invested heavily in developing professionals with expertise in customer relationship management, risk, compliance and digital banking. Those investments were expected to strengthen the institution over the long term.

Today, many of those same capabilities are valuable well beyond banking.

A relationship manager with years of experience serving corporate clients may be just as attractive to a fintech expanding its business banking offering. A compliance professional with deep regulatory expertise can move into payment services or digital finance. Professionals leading digital innovation are increasingly able to move between banks, fintechs and technology companies with relative ease.

This changes how recruitment challenges should be interpreted. Hiring is no longer simply about replacing someone who has left. It is about understanding which capabilities are becoming harder to secure, who else is competing for them and how organisations can continue building the workforce they need.

Viewed this way, recruitment is not simply an HR process. It is a business decision that directly influences an organisation’s ability to compete, innovate and grow.

How Employers Can Respond

Understanding the shift is the first step. Responding to it is where competitive advantage is built.

One response is to broaden where talent comes from. If fintechs and technology companies recruit experienced bankers, banks can also recruit professionals whose expertise has been developed outside traditional financial institutions. Looking only at direct competitors narrows the available talent pool.

Employers should also look beyond application numbers when assessing the health of their recruitment strategy. A role that attracts hundreds of applications but consistently produces weak shortlists may require a different sourcing strategy, stronger employer branding or earlier engagement with specialist talent.

Finally, organisations should treat scarce capabilities as a pipeline challenge rather than a vacancy challenge. Compliance, digital transformation, data and specialist commercial roles are unlikely to become easier to recruit. Institutions that build graduate pathways, invest in internal development and maintain relationships with talent partners before vacancies arise will be better positioned than those that begin searching only after a resignation.

Looking Beyond the Vacancy

The strongest organisations over the next five years are unlikely to be those that recruit fastest. They will be those that understand how their talent market is changing and adjust before that change becomes a constraint.

Looking beyond today’s vacancy means asking different questions. Which capabilities are becoming harder to secure? Which organisations are attracting the professionals we want to retain? How should our workforce evolve to support the business we expect to become?

These are no longer questions for HR alone. They influence growth, resilience and the ability to compete in an industry where technology continues to reshape customer expectations.

Talent has become one of the few advantages that competitors cannot easily replicate. Institutions that recognise this will do more than improve recruitment. They will strengthen their capacity to adapt in a financial services market that continues to evolve.

Previous post: Why your employee retention issue is not about pay.

1. Bank of Ghana. (2024). Summary of economic and financial data (Statistical Report). Bank of Ghana. https://www.bog.gov.gh/…/summary-of-economic-and-financial-data-may-2024.pdfi ↩︎