When 2024 ended, its trends and themes for the Finance function certainly did not cease—as digital transformation, ESG, and cyber security costs continue to dominate the stage for chief financial officers to watch.
Apart from these, the department's challenge regarding upskilling and reskilling continues, and finance leaders continue to strive to find the balance between digitisation and talent revitalisation.
As the Finance function traverses 2025, the challenges of yesteryear weigh on CFOs' shoulders. The task at hand is to prevail over all obstacles, turning them all into opportunities to drive growth.
Winnie Law, CFO, Technology & Operations (T&O), Global Functions and Fit for Growth, Standard Chartered, believes the war on talent continues to be a challenge as the role of Finance pivots from being mere number crunchers and financial journalists to strategy influencers.
According to Law, the changes that come along with this will inevitably drive the workforce to re-evaluate and upskill their talent pools.
Looking back
Reminiscing about how 2024 went by, Law says the year has been eventful and frothy with global conflicts, geopolitical tensions, technology disruptions, and economic uncertainties.
"With the levelling rates environment, many banks are embarking on transformation journeys to dramatically streamline their organisational structures and operations in order to deliver higher sustainable returns."
She observes that integrating digital technology into all business areas and functions to enhance client and employee experiences has been a game-changer and has massively changed how global firms like Standard Chartered operate.
"Many have launched corporate versions of 'ChatGPT' which is having a profound impact on employee productivity and effectiveness, opening all kinds of possibilities across industries."
She notes that the level of change that companies are experiencing and having to navigate, internally and externally, has never been greater.
"With these trends, we continue to see a shift in the changing needs of the business specifically with speed of decision making and demand for real-time, dynamic and forward-looking financial insights, requiring finance to pivot their operating model to be nimbler and invest in responsive and scalable technology infrastructure."
Law believes that all areas of finance will be disrupted in some way, requiring some level of re-basing, reskilling, and reinvention.
Hurdles in 2024
The proliferation of AI tools and capabilities was among the challenges that the Finance function had to combat in the past year.
According to Law, in a world where even coding is automated through machine learning, technological advancements have meant that they have far greater choices and access to technology than ever before to drive value creation.
But with these choices comes the challenge of where to deploy capital investments to maximise returns.
For her, the finance function is pivotal in helping organisations evaluate their investment options, make trade-off decisions, and find the sweet spot between speed, quality, and costs.
"Companies that are able to consistently deliver robust cost efficiencies while uplifting client service quality and driving top-line growth will win over investors and thrive. CFOs must constantly be a few steps ahead, anticipating and predicting the organisation's needs, especially in areas of resource allocation, capital deployment and capacity creation."
She adds that one of her key learnings in 2024 as they go through the transformation journey is the concept of progress over perfection.
"We don't have to do everything perfectly, but we do have to start. It is important to show quick wins and be able to make swift decisions in the beginning of a transformation journey in order to generate confidence and momentum."
Law believes that supporting the organisation through these changes while the finance function is trying to transform itself is the greatest challenge, as it puts considerable strain on resources.
"On that front, I've learned that transformation is not always about adding new things: new tools, new capabilities. Sometimes, it's about having the courage to let go, to purge and rationalise or stop an activity."
Talent shortage
Law concedes that there is a talent shortage in the market. Fewer people enter the field each year, while regulations and reporting requirements are only getting more complex.
Combine these with the ever-increasing business demands for strong finance advisory services, and the finance function is undeniably under pressure.
"Addressing the skills gap is a top priority for most finance leaders," Law says. "This does not mean that everyone has to be AI experts; it is about building AI-adjacent competencies, the ability to understand, interpret, and apply technology to deliver outcomes for the organisation."
She notes that skills like data visualisation and advanced analytics are also at the very top of the list, as acquiring new skills fit for a digital world is no longer a choice but an imperative.
"Over the next three years, I believe that we may expect a shrinking workforce in supporting operational finance processes, replaced with a rapid migration towards higher value activities focused on driving commercial outcomes and strategic agendas."
She sees that these changes create some level of nervousness and fatigue amongst the finance community and, simultaneously, excitement and anticipation for the unique opportunities this brings to the profession.
Being a first adopter
Given the increasing relevance of technology in the Finance function, Law says she plans to be a first adopter to manage changes in her team.
"AI in accounting and finance is supremely suited to identify patterns and trends with unparalleled accuracy, speed and scale, and this will be an absolute game changer for our industry."
She thinks the incredible processing power to extract, reconcile, navigate, and package vast volumes of disparate and complex data and produce predictive scenarios and financial insights with precision will fundamentally redefine their value proposition, leading to better decision-making, investment strategies, and financial outcomes for organisations.
"At Standard Chartered, we are fortunate to have an AI Learning Hub designed to empower employees to unlock the potential of AI through immersive learning experiences with expert-led sessions and use case applications."
She says she is jumping at every chance to bring these capabilities to her team, signing up to be pilot testers of generative AI programmes, identifying digital talents and giving them the platform to lead innovation projects, and providing hands-on opportunities for everyone to take part in the digital transformation journey.
In addition, they encourage teams to collaborate more with the technology function through hackathons to stimulate creative thinking and experimentation.
Blending finance with technology
Law says CFOs are increasingly required to develop cross-disciplinary skills, blending finance with technology and transformation.
"Despite technology advancements and the array of 'self-serve' data and tools available, the opportunities to engage in meaningful commercial conversations with the business has only been enriched."
She observes that there continues to be a strong demand for human connection, which has only helped to deepen finance's role in shaping business directions and the impact it can make across the organisation.
"While it may seem counter-intuitive, soft skills are even more in demand than technical skills in the finance field – skills such as communication and influencing, relationship building, conflict resolution and problem-solving, strategic and creative thinking, resilience and mental agility are all critical for the future of finance."
She adds that with the Bank's support, they are pivoting to a skills-based organisation, which is all about redefining conventional roles in terms of skills and capabilities rather than job scope and responsibilities.
"This type of boundaryless approach to work where jobs give way to skills as the new currency will infinitely create new growth opportunities for our people."
As for their methods, Law explains that effective upskilling goes far beyond the traditional classroom setting.
"We are leveraging a diverse range of options ranging from e-learning platforms and multi-media tools to project-based immersive experiences to personalised one-on-one coaching."
She says AI powers the Bank's internal Talent Marketplace platform to match employees' skills with special projects they call 'gigs'. Using a 'skills passport', their employees can participate in projects outside their area to boost their skills and gain new exposures and experiences without changing roles.
"Technology is disrupting the way we work so quickly that leaders have a responsibility to focus not just on employment, but employability of their people," Law points out.
Advice
Law says the trend of focusing careers based on skills is a mindset shift for the finance industry. To stay relevant, people need to continuously reinvent themselves to unlearn and relearn new skills.
"Given people are our greatest assets, leaders must be proactive in evaluating the skills gap in their teams and build effective interventions and outreach programmes to accelerate their future readiness."
She recommends that finance leaders maintain open and transparent communication with their teams and share a compelling vision for the future, highlighting the new opportunities and career paths created through technology.
"There is a need for rebranding and repositioning of the role of Finance in the digital world: emphasise the complementary nature of AI and human skills where AI automates routine and repetitive tasks, thus allowing humans to focus more on the leading, interpreting and advisory aspects, which will only lead to a more meaningful and fulfilling work environment."
She encourages finance leaders to be the first to champion the transformation agenda in their organisations by participating in cross-functional change initiatives to broaden the team's exposure and reach.
"Finally, reframe your day-to-day vocabulary from words such as errors, mistakes and setbacks to positive reinforcing words like lessons, learnings and experiences. This will help to build the learning agility in the DNA of your organisation which is key to success in the digital age."
