Bridging the Gap: Financial Services Education for the Next Generation

(This article first appeared on a post by Jacob Howard on LinkedIn here)

On 6 November 2025, I had the privilege of being the opening speaker to a packed room at Tiffin Girls’ Grammar School in Kingston as part of their year 10+ Careers Evening - and the response was electric. Parents and students alike approached me afterwards, keen to learn more about careers in financial services (and marketing) and how to better prepare for them.

This is a topic I care deeply about and want to champion in my role as Chair of the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Financial Services sector interest group. Financial services is one of the UK’s most important industries - contributing around 12% of GDP, employing over 2 million people, and serving as a global hub for banking, fintech, insurance, investment and related professional services. Yet despite its scale and impact, 83% of young people say they don’t understand what a career in the financial services industry involves. That’s a huge missed opportunity.

I was very pleased to see recent news that financial education will become compulsory in UK schools by 2028, with HSBC among the organisations supporting this initiative. According to the Department for Education, the new curriculum will include budgeting, money management, and even mortgages - taught through revamped citizenship classes across primary and secondary schools.

This is a vital step forward. But we also need to go further - not just teaching financial literacy, but connecting education to real-world career pathways. That’s why I’ve been speaking with a number of schools and financial firms about how we can bridge the gap between classroom learning and industry experience.

At Financial Marketing Insights, I’m building out a programme to do just that – to offer mentoring, practical remote projects and exposure to the broad array of roles within financial services. The goal is to demystify the industry, showcase its diversity, and help young people build confidence and CV-ready experience.

If you’re a financial institution interested in supporting this initiative - whether through project briefs, guest speakers, or mentorship - in the UK or around the world, I’d love to hear from you. Together, we can help shape a more inclusive, informed, and future-ready generation of talent for this exciting industry.

Drop me a line at jacobhoward@financialmarketinginsights.com, and let’s build something meaningful.