The UK digital challenger bank also released the findings of a survey carried out with Juniper Research, which revealed that UK banks will save £1.8bn over the next five years as a result of investing the same amount in AI.
The survey found that 187 million hours will be saved, mainly as a result of back-office efficiencies.
Zopa is in early discussions with companies to join a coalition designed to upskill and reskill 100,000 banking professionals in AI disciplines by 2030.
The five-year Jobs2030 campaign, as it is known, will start by offering modules in AI disciplines for fintech workers, specifically engineers, analysts and operations leads.
Participants will receive training tailored to the UK banking sector. A generative AI (GenAI) engineering programme will also be introduced to support deeper technical upskilling, alongside the creation of the Zopa Coding Academy.
Zopa employees will be the first to access modules for testing and feedback, before the programme is rolled out more broadly.
A company spokesperson said as part of this, it is “looking to collaborate with partners in the development and rollout of additional training modules and industry advocacy”.
Nick Maynard, vice-president of fintech market research at Juniper, said: “The UK banking sector stands at a tipping point. GenAI creates risk and opportunity – the risk of a major shift in the skills workers will need to thrive, but the opportunity to create a better banking experience.
“Digital-only brands already have deep experience with AI in their operations and will be less impacted by this shift. As such, digital banks and their experiences will be critical to leading the banking market through this revolution.”
GenAI’s influence on productivity, software creation and decision-making systems could rival the advent of the internet or cloud computing
Peter Donlon, Zopa Bank
According to Zopa’s chief technology officer, Peter Donlon, GenAI “marks a paradigm shift in applied computing”.
“Its influence on productivity, software creation and decision-making systems could rival the advent of the internet or cloud computing. At Zopa, we’ve been operationalising machine learning for over a decade, well before LLMs [large language models] became mainstream. That depth of experience has shaped our belief that GenAI isn’t a feature add-on, but a foundational capability. For Zopa technologists, it’s a rare chance to build entirely new intelligence layers, at a level that will redefine the industry.”
The Spanish bank is accelerating its use of AI after seeing more than €200m in cost savings last year.
As well as the mandatory AI training plan for all employees, which will begin next year and includes teaching responsible AI use, the bank is offering training to its development, marketing and front-line staff, including through workshops and hackathons. The training is part of what the bank describes as a “data and AI-first” transformation.
Companies interested in joining the Zopa-led AI training initiative can contact [email protected] to register their interest.
