
At AJ Bell, we’re proud to be one of Manchester’s original FinTech powerhouses. Since becoming a Manchester Digital member over six years ago, we’ve continued to grow - now supporting over 593,000 customers with £90.4 billion in assets under administration. But while our scale has changed, our culture of innovation hasn’t.
In fact, it’s stronger than ever.
That culture was on full display at our 2025 AI Hackathon - a focused, high-energy few days designed to explore how AI can be embedded meaningfully into the way we build, deliver, and support our services. In a new video, Chief Technology Officer, Mo Tagari shares the thinking behind the event, how the teams responded, and what happens next.
“We have a culture for innovation,” says Mo.
“And in order to promote it, we run Hackathons each year - this year the focus has been on AI.”
🎥 Watch the full video here:
⚙️ The 2025 AI Hackathon: What Happened?
While AI continues to dominate headlines, the goal wasn’t to chase hype - it was to create value.
The challenge set for all teams was clear:
- ✅ Use GitHub Copilot
- ✅ Build using AJ Bell’s in-house GenAI Platform-as-a-Service
The constraints were intentional - encouraging innovation with tools that could translate directly into real-world impact.
29 teams took part, with nearly 100 engineers from across the business. 10 standout ideas were shortlisted for further development.
“The ideas ranged from voice-led customer journeys to intelligent internal tools that scale knowledge and reduce friction,” says Mo.
“We’re now at a point, where we are going to look at these with our product teams and see which ones we can productionise in front of our customers and in front of our people"
The Hackathon is just one example of how our business is investing in the future and continuing to deliver innovation with purpose.
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