The financial services industry must invest in more apprenticeships, says a body dedicated to building professionalism in the UK.

The National Skills Academy for Financial Services has called for more apprentices to be recruited. The call comes during National Apprenticeship Week.
Nigel Benton, executive director of NSAFS, said: "Apprenticeships are essential for building skills and provide an important route into the financial services industry; they have the potential to reenergise financial services recruitment and develop a workforce that represents the diversity of its customer base.
"Moreover, apprenticeships help companies add a high quality training framework to their existing procedures and recruit a new generation of able young people who will form the talent of tomorrow.
"Despite this, apprenticeships are underused in financial services compared to other sectors."
NSAFS is an employer-led charitable organisation which said its goal is to "support future, emerging and existing talent and to ensure the financial services industry is productive and efficient to compete in global markets".

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Mr Benton said: "The NSAFS believes that the key to increasing apprenticeships in the sector is to address misconceptions about apprenticeships and demonstrate their tangible financial benefits.
"The NSAFS works closely with leading financial services companies to overcome barriers to implementing apprenticeship schemes."
The organisation said financial services contributes £124 billion to the UK economy each year.
Mr Benton added: "Through apprenticeship schemes, employers can ensure a diverse and representative workforce participates in this important sector."
A recent survey conducted by Consumer Intelligence suggested about 1,330,000 people want to quit their current jobs and retrain to get into the financial services sector.
Its research suggested 23% of the adult population – which would work out at 10.9 million people - planned to retrain so they can start a new job.
Of those that want to find a new career, 12% said they wanted to work in finance.
This was the third highest professional sector after healthcare (22%) and education (18%).