BBVA has announced its participation as a founding partner in the OpenAI Deployment Company, the new company launched by OpenAI, together with 18 leading investment firms, consultancies and system integrators. With a total investment of more than $4 billion, the OpenAI Deployment Company will provide services to facilitate the deployment of artificial intelligence across enterprise organizations.

Garanti BBVA’s AI journey, launched in 2016, has evolved into Ugi, which today handles more than 6.4 million monthly interactions on average, has 1.6 million active users, and supports more than 300 end-to-end banking transactions. With the integration of generative AI, Ugi can now understand 90% of user requests. Over the past year, nearly 50% of mobile banking customers interacted with Ugi at least once, while the system delivered proactive solutions through 780,000 instant notifications per month.

BBVA is strengthening its commitment to growth in Germany with the appointment of Jürgen von der Lehr as Head of its Digital Bank in the country, a key role in adapting the bank’s value proposition in one of Europe’s largest and most competitive financial markets.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is already one of the main drivers of transformation in the financial sector and BBVA has been looking closely at how people incorporate it into their work. Training, new internal roles that promote its uptake, and a culture that encourages experimentation are some of the pillars of a strategy aimed at transforming how work is done across the organization.

This innovative AI-powered tool provides the bank’s commercial team access to detailed geospatial information in real time. The goal: to turn complex data into personalized financial solutions for producers.

Harvard Business Review has identified BBVA as an example of how expanding access to generative AI tools can channel internal demand, transforming it into a driver of innovation. All Group employees currently have access to generative AI tools, including those in the commercial network, and over half of them use these tools on a weekly basis.

Garanti BBVA has signed memorandums of understanding (MoU) with Bilkent Cyberpark, İTÜ ARI Teknokent, and ODTÜ Teknokent to connect technology startups with financial expertise, mentorship, and global networks. The partnerships will offer entrepreneurs multilayered support—from financial literacy training and acceleration programs to tailored banking solutions.

Germany is rapidly becoming one of the bank’s most important strategic growth markets in Europe. Since the launch of its digital retail bank in June 2025, BBVA has surpassed a six-figure customer base. Notably 90% of these customers have “activated, funded their accounts, and are actively using them,” Murat Kalkan, BBVA’s Global Head of Digital Banks, said today at FIBE in Berlin. That strong early confidence is further underscored by the fact that 23% (as of early 2026) of BBVA’s customers in Germany hold more than €100,000 with the bank. Kalkan emphasized that  BBVA’s ambition is to become a genuine primary banking alternative for German customers.