BBVA Argentina, a subsidiary of BBVA which serves South America, is revamping its tech stack to ensure the bank stays competitive against rising fintechs. 

“Digitalization, which was previously a competitive advantage, has now become a market standard,” Chief Executive Jorge Alberto Bledel said during the bank’s second-quarter earnings call Aug. 20. “New unregulated players and disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence demand a redefinition of the differential value of the company’s proposition.”

The $15 billion Bueno Aires-based bank has invested in its platform for years and is reaping the benefits through digital client acquisition, Bledel said. 

During the quarter, BBVA Argentina acquired 209,000 clients, of which 84.5% were through digital channels, according to the company’s earnings report. 

The number of active mobile customers increased 11% year over year to 2.3 million clients during the quarter. 

BY THE NUMBERS: In Q2, BBVA Argentina reported: 

• Net income of AR$ 60 billion ($63 million), down 31% YoY; 

• Efficiency ratio of 56.5%, up 20 basis points QoQ; and 

• Operating expenses of $508 million, up 1.1% YoY. 

THE BIG PICTURE: BBVA Argentina’s parent organization, BBVA, inked a long-term deal with OpenAI to provide gen AI access to its 11,000 employees, according to a recent BBVA release. 

The bank is deploying gen AI for: 

• Coding;  

• Documentation; and 

• Marketing. 

The impact of AI has been immediate, with employees saving up to three hours per week, Elena Alfaro, head of global AI adoption at BBVA, previously told Bank Automation News. 

Alfaro added that “while our initial deployment centers [around] general productivity tools, we are continuously exploring how these advanced AI capabilities can be leveraged for more complex, customer-facing use cases in the future,” such as: 

• Personalized financial advice; 

• Fraud prevention and cybersecurity; and 

• Enhanced customer service. 

BBVA uses Google Cloud’s cloud and gen AI services, Alfaro said. The bank has adopted a “multicloud approach to ensure operational resilience, strategic flexibility and the capacity to integrate premier services from diverse providers.” 

Editor’s note: All amounts have been converted to U.S. dollars.