Leading financial services in a world where AI is reshaping work, decisions and organisational performance.
Across six live online half-day workshops, explore how AI can strengthen your leadership work, identify opportunities and develop a clearer view of the priorities, governance questions and organisational conditions needed for responsible adoption.
DeliveryOnline event
Dates19 October 2026 to 10 November 2026
Time09:00 to 12:30 UK time
DurationSix half day workshops
LevelSenior leadership
Delivered byUK Finance and CFTE
Leaders from these organisations joined the previous cohort
The founding cohort brought together 16 senior leaders from 14 organisations, spanning business, operations, finance, risk, technology and people functions.
In their words
Excellent - very high calibre speakers, well-considered syllabus and great opportunities to interact with other participants and take away applicable insight & tools.
Incredibly insightful; the different levels of speakers and sharing their knowledge. Picked up some new terminology that I otherwise wouldn’t have known; a lot of what I do is purely experimental and so to take the time to sit back and review what I’ve made from a different perspective is great.
AI is changing how financial-services organisations work, make decisions and manage risk. The AI Leadership Academy helps senior leaders develop the judgement, confidence and practical understanding to lead responsible adoption across their organisation.
Delivered in collaboration by UK Finance and CFTE, the six-part online Academy combines expert perspectives, practical AI demonstrations, leadership exercises and discussion with senior peers. Participants explore AI in their own work before examining organisational opportunities, prioritisation, governance and the conditions needed to scale adoption.
How AI is reshaping financial services, work, decisions and risk, at the depth decisions require.
Use AI yourself to prepare faster, sharpen questions, improve communication and test ideas.
Identify where AI creates value, decide what deserves attention and avoid scattered experimentation.
Examine the risks and controls, and the accountability and oversight that trusted adoption requires.
People, governance, platform, learning and execution across the organisation.
Designed for senior leaders across business and support functions in financial services, including those setting direction, sponsoring transformation, overseeing risk or leading teams through change.
No technical background requiredAlso relevant for senior accountable individualsSix connected sessions move from understanding and experiencing AI to prioritising opportunities, governing adoption and creating the organisational conditions for execution.
From specialist topic to strategic force: a shared language for generative AI, agentic AI and the direction of travel.
Worked examples of AI in briefing preparation, analysis, communication, scenario thinking and decision support.
From assistant to actor: what agentic systems mean for workflows, controls, risk and decision making.
Separate credible opportunities from scattered experimentation, using value, feasibility, risk, readiness and strategic relevance.
Trust and accountability: model and data risk, human oversight, escalation and auditability as adoption expands.
The conditions for adoption to become real: direction, platform, learning, capability building, incentives and execution.
Each live workshop combines expert briefings, relevant financial-services examples, AI demonstrations and practical leadership exercises. Participants apply the ideas to their own context and exchange perspectives with senior peers, connecting each session to the wider leadership journey.
Take practical frameworks and reflection prompts back to your organisation, alongside a clearer view of priority AI opportunities, governance questions and the organisational conditions needed for responsible adoption.
What AI can do, and what to ask about it.
Value and limits learned by using AI, not by theory.
Priority opportunities, governance questions and the conditions to scale.
Leaders across financial services comparing perspectives and testing assumptions.
The AI Leadership Academy is developed and delivered in collaboration by UK Finance and CFTE. UK Finance brings financial-services sector insight and a network representing 300 firms. CFTE brings specialist expertise in AI capability building, programme design and practitioner-led learning. Together, the partners connect senior leadership priorities with practical learning in a financial-services context.
Interested in joining or have a question? Complete the form and the CFTE team will help with your enquiry and pass your details to the UK Finance training team, who manage bookings and onboarding.
Six live online sessions19 October to 10 November 202609:00 to 12:30 UK timeNeed approval first? Send your manager a pre-written request.
Interested in developing AI leadership capability across your team? We can discuss tailored in-house delivery to reflect your organisation’s priorities and learning needs.
Email partners@cfte.education to explore the options with our team.
Download the brochure