The big questions shaping financial services: Explore WIBF’s autumn/winter Thought Leadership series

Artificial intelligence is moving from experimentation to implementation. Social mobility remains a pressing challenge for employers. Women continue to face substantial inequalities in saving, investing and retirement, while the changing energy landscape is creating difficult choices for governments, businesses and investors.

These are not separate conversations. Together, they raise important questions about who benefits from change, how organisations can turn ambition into meaningful action and what kind of financial services industry we want to build.

Across eight events taking place from September to December, WIBF’s autumn/winter Thought Leadership series brings together industry experts, practitioners and people with lived experience to examine four of the issues shaping our industry and women’s working and financial lives.

How do we turn AI from promise into meaningful progress?

The AI conversation is moving quickly. The 2026 Global AI in Financial Services Report from Cambridge Judge Business School found that 81% of surveyed financial services firms were adopting AI at some level. Yet only 14% currently regarded it as transformational to their organisational strategy and competitive advantage – suggesting a significant gap between adoption and genuine business integration.

At the same time, questions about safety and oversight are becoming more urgent. Just this month, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for the AI industry to slow the pace of development to give safety measures time to catch up. His intervention reflects a much wider debate: how can organisations pursue the opportunities AI offers without moving faster than their ability to understand and manage the risks?

For financial services, the question is no longer simply whether organisations will adopt AI, but how they will use it responsibly, inclusively and effectively.

On 29 September, the virtual event AI is now: Inclusive innovation, skills and leadership in the age of AI in partnership with Capco will consider how organisations can combine human expertise with technology to strengthen trust, empower people and create lasting value. The discussion will explore the skills and leadership needed as AI changes how organisations work and make decisions.

That conversation continues in London on 1 October with Beyond the hype: How financial institutions turn AI into measurable value. Hosted by Infosys, the event will move from promise to practice, examining how financial institutions can scale AI responsibly, measure return on investment and align innovation with business strategy, risk and trust.

Together, the two events ask what successful AI adoption really looks like – not just in technological terms, but for customers, colleagues and organisations.

Who gets the opportunity to succeed?

Talent may be everywhere, but access to opportunity is not.

Socio-economic background can influence which careers young people encounter, the networks available to them and how readily they can enter and progress within financial services. The effects can continue throughout a career: evidence submitted to Parliament by Progress Together found that women from working-class backgrounds progressed 21% more slowly into senior roles than women from more advantaged backgrounds.

The first of two social mobility events takes place in London on 28 September with the EY Foundation. Social Mobility: Early-stage engagement and AI: inspiring the next generation will explore why engagement needs to begin before traditional career decision points such as university. Panellists will consider structural barriers, the role technology and AI can play in either widening or restricting access, and practical ways individuals and employers can support young people through volunteering, mentoring and early intervention.

On 6 October, Social Mobility: Empowering women’s careers through insight and action turns the focus to progression. Hosted by Cynergy Bank, the London panel will examine how socio-economic background and gender intersect during the pivotal mid-career stage, including the effects on visibility, advancement, confidence, financial resilience and access to professional networks.

It will also explore why workforce data matters. By understanding who enters an organisation, who progresses and where talent is being lost, employers can move beyond broad commitments and take more focused, accountable action.

Viewed together, the two events follow the career journey from first exposure to senior progression – and ask what needs to change at every stage.

How do we give women greater financial power?

Women’s financial outcomes are shaped by far more than individual choices. Pay, career breaks, caring responsibilities, part-time work and longer life expectancy can all affect the amount women are able to save and invest.

New figures released in 2026 by Mercer, NOW: Pensions and the Pensions Policy Institute suggest that women reach retirement with pension savings worth almost 55% less than men’s – an average difference of £127,000.

Three events will explore the causes of this divide and what individuals, employers and the wider industry can do about it.

The virtual session Closing the pensions gap: Take control of your financial future on 8 October will combine industry insight with practical guidance, helping women understand how investment decisions can support greater long-term financial security.

On 25 November, Savings, investing & the gender divide: what’s changing and why it matters will broaden the discussion. Hosted by Legal & General in London, the event will explore how gender, generations and life experiences influence attitudes towards money, risk and investing. It will also ask whether financial systems, products and conversations have been designed around the realities of women’s lives.

Finally, Equalise Pension Power: A leadership roundtable on 3 December will bring leaders together in the London offices of Pension Insurance Corporation to examine the latest data, structural causes and long-term consequences of the gender pension gap. The emphasis will be on practical solutions and the collective action needed to improve retirement outcomes.

These discussions recognise the importance of helping individual women take control of their finances while also challenging the structural inequalities that individual action alone cannot solve.

How should finance respond to the changing energy landscape?

The energy transition is creating both substantial opportunity and significant uncertainty for financial institutions.

The International Energy Agency expects global energy investment to reach $3.4 trillion in 2026, with approximately $2.2 trillion directed towards clean energy. Yet investment decisions are being made against a complicated backdrop of geopolitical instability, concerns about energy security and affordability, and differing national priorities.

On 30 October, the virtual event Understanding the energy transition: Risks and opportunities in an uncertain world will explore how this environment is reshaping policy and investment.

The discussion will consider the shift towards a more pragmatic transition, the balance between risk management and opportunity, and how public and private capital can help finance sustainable infrastructure and credible transition strategies.

It is a conversation that goes to the heart of the role financial services can play: managing immediate risks while directing capital towards longer-term economic and environmental resilience.

Join the conversation

From responsible AI and access to opportunity to women’s financial security and the energy transition, WIBF’s autumn/winter Thought Leadership series creates space to look beyond the headlines.

Each event offers an opportunity to hear informed perspectives, ask questions, connect with others across financial services and consider what meaningful action could look like – for individuals, organisations and the industry as a whole.

All eight events are free for WIBF members. Follow the event links above to find out more and reserve your place. To view all the Thought Leadership events follow this link.