Plenitude has joined the Financial Services Skills Compact as a Supporter, linking workforce development to the skills needed to oversee artificial intelligence (AI) in economic crime controls. The specialist economic crime firm argues that staff must retain the judgement to challenge automated decisions and remain accountable for control effectiveness as technology takes on more work.
The Compact, led by the Financial Services Skills Commission (FSSC), brings government and industry together to address skills gaps across financial services. Supported by HM Treasury, Skills England, TheCityUK and the City of London Corporation, the initiative launched in July 2026. It asks regulated signatories to appoint a senior executive accountable for closing skills gaps and publish progress annually.
For economic crime teams, Plenitude identifies a need to interpret and challenge outputs from AI, machine learning, graph analytics, behavioural analytics and automation. As these technologies take on more detection, triage and analysis, staff must recognise when systems are not working as intended. The firm views skills development and AI adoption as a control issue as well as a workforce issue.
Alan Paterson, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Plenitude, questioned whether access to AI provides a useful measure of workforce capability: “Most firms can tell you how many of their people have access to AI. Very few can tell you whether those people are getting better at the work they remain accountable for.”
Paterson also raised the challenge of developing expertise when AI performs work through which staff have traditionally learnt. He identified critical thinking, judgement, problem solving and creativity as skills built through practice, and said Plenitude was examining how to develop its next generation of talent as that work changes.
Louise Brett, Plenitude’s CEO, connected skills development to accountability for technology: “Technology will only be as effective as the people who deploy it, challenge it and remain accountable for it.”
The FSSC’s first phase of research for HM Treasury, A Workforce Transformed, examined potential task automation across financial services and pressure on the future supply of highly skilled workers. A second phase considers how the sector should respond, with recommendations due in early 2027.
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