Claude training · Financial services
Claude training for financial services firms in the UK and Ireland
Softblues (softblues.io) trains financial services teams in the UK and Ireland to use Claude on their own work: deal packs, research notes, client letters, compliance checks and Excel models. Each session is built for one role and uses the firm's own material, inside the firm's own rules on what may go into Claude. At Key Capital, an Irish corporate finance and investment management firm, 35 of 45 staff use Claude several times a week after nine weekly sessions led by Softblues. Softblues is Certified in the Claude Partner Network.
- OpenAI Select Partner
- Google Cloud Services Partner
- Claude Partner Network Certified
- Member of the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program
Key facts
Who it is for
Corporate finance, investment and wealth management, financial advice, insurance and lending firms in the UK and Ireland with roughly 50 or more knowledge workers, on Claude Team or Enterprise or about to buy it.
Format
Short online sessions by role, spread over several weeks so people practise between them. In Ireland, a member of our team can visit at the start to meet the team and shape the programme.
What people learn
Projects, the Microsoft 365 connector, Claude for Excel, Skills, scheduled tasks in Cowork, and your firm's rules on client data and live deals.
Proof
At Key Capital, every member of staff took part in nine weekly sessions written for corporate finance. 35 of 45 now use Claude several times a week, and staff scored the training 4.3 out of 5.
Partner status
Softblues is an OpenAI Select Partner, Certified in the Claude Partner Network, a Google Cloud partner at Services Select tier, and a member of the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program.
How it is priced
Scoped with you and priced in the proposal.
What do financial services teams use Claude for?
The reading, drafting and checking that fill most of a regulated team's week, with a person signing off what goes out.
| Team | What they practise in the session | What a person still does |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate finance and deal teams | Read a 200-page information memorandum or data room pack and draft a first summary with page references | Checks the figures and decides what goes to the client |
| Research and investment reporting | Turn a month of market data and notes into a draft report in the house style | Owns the view and signs it off |
| Relationship managers | Draft client letters and updates that keep each person's own voice | Reads it and sends it |
| Compliance | Check a file or a financial promotion against the firm's procedure and list the gaps with references | Makes the call and records it |
| Finance | Build the monthly management pack and the variance commentary in Claude for Excel | Approves the numbers |
| Operations | Prepare an onboarding pack and check whether the returned documents are complete | Decides whether the client is accepted |
At Key Capital, staff chose Claude partly because it kept each relationship manager writing in their own voice. If your people write to clients in their own style, the sessions show it on your own letters.
What do regulators expect when staff use AI?
In the UK, the rules you already follow. In Ireland, the same, plus the EU AI Act's duty on AI literacy.
UK. In July 2026 the FCA published the Mills Review of AI in retail financial services. It did not recommend new AI-specific rules. The Consumer Duty and the Senior Managers and Certification Regime remain the frame, so a named senior manager should own how staff use AI, and the firm should be able to show what was checked and by whom. Assess the AI provider like any other material third party.
Ireland and the EU. Article 4 of the EU AI Act asks providers and deployers of AI systems to ensure a sufficient level of AI literacy among their staff, and it has applied since 2 February 2025. Training by role with a record of attendance is a practical way to show it. DORA has applied to EU financial entities since 17 January 2025 and asks them to manage ICT third-party risk, which includes recording ICT providers in a register. A Claude subscription is usually one more entry.
This is not legal advice. Your compliance team and legal adviser decide what is enough for your firm.
Sources:
Can our staff put client data into Claude?
Yes, within your own policy and with the paperwork done.
On Claude Team and Enterprise, Anthropic does not train its models on your data by default. Anthropic's own platform stores data in the United States, so for most UK and Irish firms the work is documentation: a DPIA, a transfer risk assessment and a register entry. Your acceptable-use policy decides what may go in, and every session teaches it. One practical rule: live-deal material stays in a Project shared only with that deal team, and nothing goes into a personal account.
Key Capital, a regulated firm, wrote its own acceptable-use policy and satisfied itself on how Anthropic handles client data before it rolled Claude out. Our Claude buyer's guide covers the licensing and security questions most firms ask first.
How is a financial services programme set up?
| Before the first session | During the programme | After it |
|---|---|---|
| Agree the tasks for each role with the team leads. Check with IT that licences, sign-in and the Microsoft 365 connector work, and that permissions are what you intend. Agree the rules on client data and live deals with compliance. | Short weekly sessions by role on your own files, with practice between sessions. Champions in each team start writing shared Skills for the tasks that work. | A monthly look at who uses Claude and for what. Two numbers to track: hours saved per week per team (self-reported), and how many champions have published a Skill by week twelve. A record of attendance for your AI literacy file. |
Who runs the sessions?
The Softblues team, led in Ireland by someone who has done this at scale before.
Our Ireland lead previously led a global rollout of generative AI to business teams at Google Cloud. The team includes Claude-certified engineers, and we run our own company on Claude, so the examples come from daily use. See the Softblues Claude operating system.
What comes after the training?
For most teams, better Skills. For one heavy process, sometimes an agent.
Training gets people using Claude on their own work. A process that runs every month at volume, such as a review of every client file against forty checks, is usually a build with a person signing off each file. We have designed one for a financial advice firm; the work is at proposal stage, and the case study says so. See financial services process automation.
Common questions about Claude training for financial services
Have you trained a financial services firm on Claude before?
Yes. Key Capital, an Irish corporate finance and investment management firm, moved its whole company onto Claude in April 2026. Softblues provided consulting and led nine weekly training sessions written for corporate finance. 35 of its 45 staff now use Claude several times a week.
Who provides Claude training for financial services firms in the UK and Ireland?
Softblues runs role-based Claude training for financial services teams in both countries, built on each team's own documents and tasks. Financial services is our first sector, followed by healthcare and legal.
Can staff use Claude on live deals?
Your policy decides. A practical rule is that live-deal material stays in a Project shared only with the deal team, that people use the firm's Claude account and never a personal one, and that nothing leaves the firm without a person reading it.
Does the FCA allow staff to use AI like Claude?
The FCA has not banned it. In July 2026 its Mills Review did not recommend new AI-specific rules, and firms work within the Consumer Duty and the Senior Managers and Certification Regime. A named senior manager should own the firm's use of AI.
Does the training help with the EU AI Act?
Article 4 asks for a sufficient level of AI literacy among staff who use AI systems, and it has applied since 2 February 2025. A role-based programme with a record of attendance helps you show it. Your legal adviser decides what is enough for your firm.
Do Irish firms need to do anything under DORA?
DORA asks EU financial entities to manage ICT third-party risk and keep a register of ICT providers. Claude is usually one more entry, with the contract terms and an exit plan recorded. Your compliance team owns that file.
Can Claude work with our Excel models?
Yes. Claude for Excel reads and edits workbooks, explains formulas and builds the commentary around the numbers. People still check every figure before it goes anywhere.
Can Claude read our SharePoint and Outlook?
Yes, through the Microsoft 365 connector, as the signed-in person and within that person's existing permissions. That makes your permissions the control, so we check them with IT before the first session.
Can Claude use FactSet, PitchBook or S&P Global data?
Anthropic's connector directory includes connectors for several market data providers, including these. Whether your team can use them depends on your licence with the provider. For systems with no connector, such as a back-office platform, see MCP connectors.
Are the sessions online or on site?
The sessions run online, so teams in different offices join the same programme. In Ireland, a member of the Softblues team can visit at the start to meet the team and shape the programme.
How long does the training take?
It depends on how many teams are in scope. Key Capital ran nine weekly sessions for the whole firm. Softblues sets the plan with you and puts it in the proposal.
We use Microsoft 365 Copilot, not Claude. Can you help?
Yes. Softblues works across Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini. See Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption.
How is the training priced?
Softblues scopes it with you and prices it in the proposal. The price depends on how many teams and sessions are involved.
Plan Claude training for your team
Tell us which teams are in scope, what they work on and how far your Claude set-up has got. We can discuss whether a role-based programme is the right next step.
We answer enquiries within 24 hours.