When Investment Banking Apprenticeship Meets AI: The Competency Collapse Crisis of Junior Analysts

Abstract

The traditional investment banking apprenticeship is centered around "Progressive Responsibility." The close interaction between mentors and apprentices acts as an "invisible bond," facilitating the transfer of such nuanced model control and intuitive negotiation judgment. However, the rise of AI is quietly severing this bond. The data indicates that up to 73% of junior analysts' working hours (e.g., financial data cleaning, standardized DCF template generation) can now be automated. As AI efficiently takes over these fundamental tasks, opportunities for analysts to engage with core business and accumulate experience progressively shrink drastically. A new "Competency Collapse" crisis emerges: while basic skills are being substituted, high-order competencies are failing to develop due to a lack of "graduated training," ultimately leading to a structural collapse of overall competence. This paper introduces the concept of "Competency Collapse" into financial talent research for the first time, employs an "AI Substitution Rate - Skill Demand Change Rate" two-dimensional framework to quantify the extent of the crisis, and explores its causes, manifestations, and solutions, providing theoretical and practical references for industry transformation. The study finds AI, automating 73% of junior analysts' fundamental tasks, severs tacit knowledge transfer and disrupts skill development's trial-and-error cycle, causing "Competency Collapse" (dual skill imbalance, AI over-reliance, promotion misalignment). It proposes a multi-level (individual, team, organizational) intervention framework to turn AI into a competency enabler, offering investment banking talent cultivation paths.