Bloomberg, the financial data, media and technology firm, has published new research suggesting that competence with AI and coding tools is overtaking conventional academic qualifications as the route into quantitative and analyst careers in the City of London.

The study polled 500 financial services professionals based in London. Among respondents responsible for final hiring decisions, 94% said they would bring a candidate without a conventional finance or quant background into a quantitative or analytical position, provided that person demonstrated strong ability with AI and coding tools. More than half (54%) of these decision-makers said they had already made such a hire. AI fluency was cited by 48% as a requirement for breaking into quant investing, putting it ahead of a degree in maths, physics, engineering or computer science, which was named by 39%.

Even so, the findings indicate that the field has not become open to all. Just over half of those surveyed (51%) believe AI is broadening the mix of backgrounds able to enter quant roles, yet only 18% think no specialist grounding is required, while 32% maintain that solid numerical or analytical ability remains a must. The remaining respondents were more cautious: 36% said deep technical expertise and a particular academic profile are still needed, and 13% argued that entry has become tougher, as AI know-how is now expected in addition to technical skills.

Alongside the research, Bloomberg pointed to its recently launched BQuant Assistant, a conversational AI coding tool grounded in financial domain knowledge. Embedded within BQuant Desktop and BQuant Enterprise, the assistant lets Bloomberg Terminal subscribers use plain-language prompts to generate code, create dynamic applications and speed up their analysis of financial data.

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