A new report by Zopa and Juniper Research forecasts that UK banks will invest over £1.8 billion ($2.5 billion) in Generative AI by 2030, aiming to boost productivity, cut costs, and improve customer experiences.

This substantial investment is expected to generate equivalent savings, totaling around £1.8 billion, primarily through automation and operational efficiencies.

The adoption of AI will significantly impact back-office functions, saving approximately 154 million hours by automating tasks such as compliance, fraud detection, and risk management.

Customer-facing AI initiatives, including virtual assistants and chatbots, are projected to attract over £1.1 billion in investments, saving roughly £540 million annually and freeing up 26 million hours of human labor.

Zopa has already integrated ChatGPT for all employees, providing training on prompt writing and developing advanced AI tools like autonomous coding agents and an upcoming AI Voice Assistant to enhance customer interactions.

To prepare for this AI-driven shift, Zopa has launched JOBS 2030, a five-year program to reskill 100,000 banking workers in AI disciplines, focusing on engineers, analysts, and operations staff.

While AI could displace around 27,000 jobs in finance by 2030, mainly in customer service and back-office roles, industry leaders see this as an opportunity for workforce upskilling in areas like AI governance and data strategy.

Zopa’s CTO emphasizes that GenAI is a foundational technology, comparable to the advent of the Internet or cloud computing, with the potential to reshape industry standards and customer experiences.

The report concludes that GenAI will serve as a new foundational layer for banking, transforming operations, customer engagement, and workforce skills, offering a high-stakes opportunity for industry leaders.

AI-driven automation is expected to save 82% of all back-office time, equating to 154 million hours, by automating compliance, fraud detection, and risk management tasks.

The investment aims to enhance automation, financial modeling, customer service, and security, with significant productivity gains anticipated.

Despite the opportunities, the report warns of job displacement risks, estimating that around 27,000 roles could be affected, mainly in high street banks, emphasizing the need for large-scale reskilling.