The Banker names BBVA Best Technology Bank in Western Europe and Recognises Its Partnership with OpenAI

BBVA is undergoing a new transformation aimed at leading financial services in the AI era. The Banker Technology Awards have underscored the significant progress the bank has made over the past year in its goal of becoming a more conversational, proactive, and personalized bank for its customers.

“The award for Best Technology Bank in Western Europe showcases the role of technology as a driver for delivering a more resilient, efficient, and personalized service. At BBVA, we are moving toward a more intelligent, data-driven banking model, integrating innovation and security into every solution to support our customers in their daily lives,” remarked Carlos Casas, Global Head of Engineering at BBVA.

The award was also granted in recognition of the launch of BBVA’s new mobile app in Spain and Mexico, which offers ultra-fast payments and includes innovative features such as a financial coach capable of advising clients on investments, as well as Blue, a new assistant powered by generative AI that can handle more than 150 operational capabilities using natural language and even carry out certain transactions, such as sending Bizum payments.

Alongside its new products and services, BBVA has launched ‘The Eight,’ a roadmap that spans all areas of the bank and aims to leverage AI to transform client interactions, optimize risk management, automate processes, build technological capabilities, and reinvent the way employees work so they can focus on higher-value tasks. In a nutshell, it is a comprehensive strategy to use AI as a lever to radically improve both the client experience and how the organization functions internally.

The use of AI has already cut the time spent resolving client claims in Mexico by 30% and slashed development time for the new payments platform by 50%. What’s more, 70% of BBVA employees use AI tools on a monthly basis, with more than half doing so weekly. As a result, estimated savings of two to three working hours per employee per week have been achieved.

To execute this plan, BBVA has forged a strategic partnership with OpenAI—the first of its kind in the financial sector and also cited by The Banker—through which both companies are jointly developing AI solutions while sharing resources and teams. Prior to this latest step, the two companies had already collaborated on integrating language models into Blue, embedding BBVA’s conversational app into ChatGPT so that any user can access information about the bank’s products and services in Italy and Germany, and rolling out ChatGPT Enterprise across the organization.

“Our agreement with OpenAI represents a fundamental shift in how we innovate at BBVA,” said Antonio Bravo, Global Head of Data. “Through deep co-creation and dedicated joint teams, we stay at the forefront of innovation in a fast-moving environment, accelerating our AI-driven transformation strategy, scaling advanced technologies across the organisation, empowering our teams and delivering more intuitive, intelligent customer experiences.”

The Banker also cited BBVA’s digital model, which the bank is using to expand into new European markets. Following its success in Italy—where BBVA already has 900,000 clients—the bank launched its digital bank in Germany last June.

In its first six months of life, BBVA Germany surpassed 100,000 clients and captured around 40% of the €12.2 billion in deposits managed by the Digital Banks unit. These new digital banks showcase BBVA’s technological capacity to scale rapidly and effectively into new markets.