Israel's One Zero digital bank cuts about 25 jobs, and says automation and generative AI let it run leaner

One Zero, the Israeli digital bank, will lay off about 25 employees, about 7% of its workforce of around 350, CTech (Calcalist's English-language site) reported on 11 October. It will also leave about 10 open positions unfilled.

The bank told CTech that automation and generative AI are helping it speed up processes and operate with a leaner structure. CTech notes that the bank has not said the employees being laid off are being directly replaced by AI. The details come from a letter chief executive Eyal Gafni sent to staff and from the bank's statements to CTech. In the letter Gafni writes of the people leaving: “These are the employees who built ONE ZERO alongside us, invested in it”.

This is One Zero's third round of layoffs since the start of 2024, CTech says, and the bank expects to become profitable in 2027. An earlier round, in September 2024, cut 23 staff while the bank's planned Italian digital bank with Generali was halted; CTech's report then said the project had been delayed by the war and the uncertainty around it.

The cut is small, but it follows the pattern of DNB and HSBC last week: a bank naming AI as a reason it can work with fewer people, without saying that any given job has been handed to software.

• Reported One Zero will lay off about 25 employees, about 7% of a workforce of around 350, and leave about 10 more positions unfilled, CTech reports. CTech (Calcalist)
• Claimed The bank says automation and generative AI are helping it accelerate processes and operate with a leaner structure; it has not said AI is directly replacing the departing staff. One Zero, via CTech
• Reported It is the bank's third round of layoffs since the beginning of 2024, and it expects to become profitable in 2027. CTech (Calcalist)