BBVA puts AI at the core of banking with OpenAI

BBVA is embarking on a comprehensive transformation of its banking operations, placing artificial intelligence at its core. This strategic shift, initiated through a collaboration with OpenAI, aims to redefine how the bank operates across various dimensions, including customer experience, internal operations, and employee productivity. Established in 1857, BBVA is a global financial institution serving millions of customers across Europe, Mexico, South America, Turkey, and the U.S. Having previously led innovations in digital and mobile banking, BBVA is now pioneering the integration of AI throughout its entire organizational structure.

Commencing in 2024, the partnership saw an initial deployment of ChatGPT Enterprise to 3,000 employees. This gradually expanded to over 100,000 employees globally, establishing BBVA as one of the largest adopters of generative AI in the financial sector. The widespread integration of ChatGPT into daily workflows across legal, risk, engineering, operations, finance, marketing, and customer service departments has demonstrated the secure and impactful scalability of generative AI within a highly regulated industry.

BBVA's AI adoption strategy is built upon three fundamental pillars: trust, governance, and structured learning. The bank prioritized providing employees with secure enterprise-grade access to AI tools, supported by robust security, legal, compliance, and technology frameworks. This approach prevented unauthorized use of consumer AI tools and fostered a controlled environment for AI integration. An organization-wide AI champions network, along with specialized "AI wizards," facilitated hands-on workshops and helped colleagues integrate ChatGPT effectively into their tasks.

Leadership involvement significantly accelerated AI adoption. Specific training was provided to 250 leaders, including the CEO and chairman, with executive committee members becoming among the most active ChatGPT users. As employees recognized the practical benefits, adoption expanded organically, leading to the creation of over 20,000 custom GPTs tailored for specialized workflows.

Illustrative examples of these custom GPTs include the Credit Analysis Pro GPT, which automates data extraction and analysis from financial reports, allowing analysts to focus on strategic insights and ESG factors. The Retail Banking Legal Assistant GPT drastically reduces research time for legal inquiries, while the Client Experience Assistant GPT in Mexico analyzes customer survey responses to improve sentiment analysis and customer satisfaction. In Peru, an internal AI assistant has reduced query handling times by approximately 80%, from 7.5 minutes to around 1 minute. These applications underscore BBVA's transition from merely improving employee productivity to fundamentally reshaping its service delivery, decision-making processes, and expertise scaling throughout the organization.