The chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to announce a ”skills compact” for the City of London in which financial services organisations will pledge to retrain thousands of workers in AI skills, the Guardian has reported.

Organisations will be expected to produce three-year plans for reskilling UK workers as part of the compact, in up to five sector-critical skills including AI. The government aims to use the scheme to keep the UK’s financial and professional services workforce competitive.

The paper said that 20 initial signatories are expected, including Barclays, the asset manager Fidelity, Lloyds, the London Stock Exchange, and Nationwide. It added that leaders at each organisation will be expected to provide annual updates on their reskilling progress to the Treasury and Financial Services Skills Commission.

Reeves is expected to make the announcement on 14 July, in what could be her last Mansion House speech as chancellor ahead of Andy Burnham becoming prime minister.

In previous speeches, Reeves has stressed the economic importance of adopting AI and urged firms to adopt it faster.

“I’m not naive about the challenges or the concerns that people have, but an active and strategic state embracing and shaping technology can ensure that the gains are shared broadly and the risks managed seriously,” she said at the AI Adoption Summit, held on 9 June.

Many financial services organisations are leaning into heavier deployment of AI and looking to hire those with AI skills or provide staff with them through training.

In January, Lloyds announced its 67,000 staff would complete compulsory AI training and in June said it plans to recruit 300 additional technology specialists to work on its AI projects.

The same month, NatWest announced it will run bank-wide AI training and accreditation for its 60,000-strong workforce.

In recent months, senior banking leaders have also said that AI is likely to impact jobs in the financial services sector. In May Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, said AI will drive down headcounts in banking and HSBC chief executive Georges Elhedery told staff AI will “destroy certain jobs and will create new jobs”.

London-based bank Standard Chartered also announced plans to cut 7,800 roles as it expands AI to automate work, with its chief executive Bill Winters stating the plan reduces reliance on “lower-value human capital”.

Winters subsequently apologised for his comments.

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