BNP Paribas is investing in AI, cloud infrastructure and cyber security as part of its modernization efforts.
“The second quarter marked the continuation of our ambitious but disciplined development within AI,” Chief Financial Officer Lars Machenil said during the bank’s earnings call on July 24. “We included automation, robotization, digitalization” as part of the bank’s Growth, Technology and Sustainability 2025 initiative.
Under the initiative, the $2.8 trillion bank plans to use technology to improve operations and customer experience, which will transform into organic growth and an increase in market share, according to the earnings report.
“AI has been at the vanguard of our transformation journey,” Machenil said. “The number of AI use cases in production was boosted from 427 back in 2021 to 780 today.”
The Paris-based bank is exploring 300 more AI use cases and hopes to have 2,000 use cases by 2025, Machenil said.
“We’re also gearing up on generative AI and are experimenting with around 150 cases,” he said. “This will give us the ability to better assess the potential of this technology and feed our next strategy with tested initiatives when it comes to this generative AI.”
The bank reported it employs more than 800 AI specialists, including data scientists and business analysts, to develop the technology.
Also in Q2, BNP reported using AI for:
- Delivering process automation;
- Virtual assistance;
- Additional revenue from pricing optimization;
- Sales automation; and
- Crucial improvement of the bank’s risk management, for example, in fraud detection and payment systems.
THE BIGGER PICTURE: BNP’s peers including Santander and Deutsche Bank are also exploring AI uses for efficiencies, customer experience, fraud fighting and security.
Deutsche Bank is deploying AI to fight fraud and aid software engineers in code generation, while Santander Bank is using AI to assist customers through virtual agents.
BY THE NUMBERS: In Q2, BNP reported:
- Net income of 12.2 billion euros ($13.3 billion), up 3.9% year over year;
- Total operating expense of $163 million, up 2% YoY; and
- Gross operating income of $5.5 billion, up 3.4% YoY.
FLASHBACK: BNP and AI solutions provider Mistral AI signed an agreement on July 10 to develop and deploy Mistral AI Large Language Models in customer support, sales, IT and other areas, according to BNP’s earnings release.
BNP, like Deutsche Bank, is exploring quantum computing for payments and cyber security, Anissa Achab, expert in security and risk management at BNP, previously told Bank Automation News.
MARKET REACTION: Shares of BNP were trading at $34.72, down by 0.5% on at market close Thursday. BNP has a market cap of $73 billion.
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Editor’s note: All amounts have been converted to U.S. dollars.
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