BBVA Puts Artificial Intelligence at the Heart of Banking with Historic Partnership with OpenAI

The financial sector is undergoing one of its largest technological revolutions, and BBVA has decided to lead this transformation boldly. The Spanish bank, founded in 1857 and present in dozens of countries, announced a strategic alliance with OpenAI — the company behind ChatGPT — to integrate artificial intelligence across all layers of its global operation. This initiative represents a new level of collaboration between a large financial institution and OpenAI, with teams from both companies working together on shared priorities and long-term transformation initiatives.

From Digital Bank to AI-Native Bank

In recent decades, BBVA has been a pioneer in digitalization and mobile banking. Now, the bank is entering a new phase: rethinking banking operations from the perspective of artificial intelligence, not as an additional layer of technology, but as the central element of the entire organization.

According to Carlos Torres Vila, chairman of BBVA:

This vision goes far beyond automating simple tasks. BBVA is redesigning entire processes — from how customers interact with financial services to how risk analysts make decisions, how operations are executed at scale, and how software is developed.

The "The Eight" Plan: A Total Transformation Roadmap

At the heart of this strategy is "The Eight," BBVA's AI transformation roadmap. It is a comprehensive plan covering eight major dimensions of the bank:

• Customer Experience — AI-based financial assistants capable of anticipating needs and personalizing services
• Commercial Banking — Tools that help managers and advisors make faster and more informed decisions
• Risk Management — Systems that analyze risk with greater precision and speed
• Operations — Automation of operational processes at a global scale
• Software Development — Acceleration of the development cycle with the aid of generative AI
• Employee Productivity — Empowering over 100,000 employees with AI tools in their daily tasks
• Research and Innovation — Direct collaboration between BBVA's engineering and research teams and OpenAI
• Governance and Security — Responsible implementation of AI in compliance with financial sector regulations

As explained by Antonio Bravo, head of AI Transformation at BBVA:

From 3,000 to Over 100,000 Users: The Scale of ChatGPT Enterprise

The partnership between BBVA and OpenAI began in 2024, with a pilot project that brought ChatGPT Enterprise to 3,000 employees in various countries and business areas. The result was immediate: adoption grew organically, and the bank quickly expanded access to the tool across the organization.

Today, more than 100,000 BBVA employees worldwide use ChatGPT Enterprise in their daily work — making it one of the largest cases of corporate adoption of generative AI in the global financial sector. This massive expansion not only demonstrates the bank's confidence in the technology but also the real scalability of the OpenAI platform in highly regulated and sensitive environments like banking.

What Changes in Practice for Customers and Employees

For Customers

BBVA customers can expect much more personalized and proactive banking experiences. AI financial assistants will be able to identify patterns in financial behavior, suggest products suited to each person's life stage, and alert customers to risks and opportunities before they even need to ask.

For Employees

The over 100,000 employees gain an intelligent co-pilot for their everyday work. This means less time on repetitive tasks, more analytical capacity for decision-making, support in document creation, data analysis, and even in code development for tech teams.

For Operations

In the back office of the bank, AI systems will now automate complex operational flows, reducing errors, increasing execution speed, and freeing teams for higher-value strategic activities.

Why This Partnership is a Milestone for the Financial Sector

The banking sector has historically been conservative in adopting new technologies — and rightly so, given the level of regulation, the associated risks, and the sensitivity of customer data. Therefore, the scale and depth of the alliance between BBVA and OpenAI represents a clear signal to the entire global financial industry.

By integrating AI not as an isolated project, but as the backbone of the entire operation, BBVA is betting that financial institutions that fail to adapt to this new paradigm will fall behind. The question for competitors is: when — and how — will they take similar steps?

Security and Responsibility: The Invisible Pillars

It is worth noting that all this transformation is being built with rigorous governance. Working with financial data from tens of millions of customers across multiple jurisdictions requires compliance with local and international regulations, as well as robust information security protocols. Collaboration with OpenAI includes dedicated teams specifically to ensure that the implementation of AI occurs in a safe, ethical, and responsible manner.

Conclusion: The Bank of the Future is Being Built Now

The partnership between BBVA and OpenAI is not just a story of technology adoption — it is a manifesto about the future of banking. With "The Eight" as a roadmap and ChatGPT Enterprise as a central tool, BBVA is building a financial institution that operates with the intelligence, speed, and personalization that the modern customer demands.

For the global financial market, the message is clear: the era of the AI-native bank has arrived.