UK digital bank Zopa has launched an ambitious five-year initiative aimed at reskilling 100,000 banking professionals in artificial intelligence (AI) by 2030.
The campaign will commence with the introduction of AI training modules specifically designed for fintech professionals, including roles such as engineers, analysts, and operations leaders. A specialized GenAI Engineering Program will follow, offering in-depth technical skill enhancement. Additionally, Zopa will establish the Zopa Coding Academy to further support this initiative. The first training modules will undergo internal testing among Zopa employees to gather feedback before being made available to a wider audience.
This initiative builds on the recent introduction of 1,000 enterprise-grade ChatGPT licenses, accompanied by training sessions led by OpenAI. These sessions focus on best practices for prompt writing, engineering, and developing custom GPTs tailored for internal applications. Recent custom GPTs include systems designed to manage customer inquiries and identify vulnerabilities, as well as the deployment of autonomous coding agents to optimize development workflows. An upcoming AI Voice Assistant is also set to be released, which will interact with customers and address their queries.
Zopa’s investment in AI aligns with the bank’s recent report highlighting the adoption of AI in the UK banking sector. The report suggests that the industry is expected to invest over £1.8 billion in generative AI by 2030, aiming to enhance staff productivity, reduce operational costs, and improve customer experiences.
With anticipated productivity improvements, Zopa expects that generative AI will save approximately 187 million hours of labor over the next five years. Most of these efficiencies are expected to arise from automating back-office and administrative functions related to operations and compliance.
Zopa anticipates that traditional banking establishments with extensive branch networks and outdated IT systems, which necessitate significant manual interventions, will achieve a 100% return on investment during their initial phase of generative AI implementation.
However, this technological advancement poses a risk to approximately 27,000 jobs, accounting for 10% of the UK banking workforce.
Peter Donlon, the Chief Technology Officer at Zopa Bank, commented, “Generative AI heralds a fundamental shift in applied computing. Its potential to enhance productivity, software development, and decision-making processes could rival that of the Internet or cloud computing. At Zopa, we have been implementing machine learning for over a decade, long before large language models became mainstream. This extensive experience has reinforced our belief that generative AI is not merely an additional feature, but a core capability. For our technology team, this presents a unique opportunity to create entirely new intelligence frameworks that will transform the industry.”