BBVA puts AI at the core of banking with OpenAI

Overview

BBVA, the Spanish multinational bank, is giving ChatGPT Enterprise to all of its roughly 120,000 employees across 25 countries under a multi-year strategic alliance with OpenAI. The expansion, announced on December 12, 2025, follows nearly two years of testing that grew from a 3,300-account pilot to 11,000 paid licenses, and it ranks among the largest enterprise deployments of generative AI in banking.

Key Takeaways

BBVA is scaling ChatGPT Enterprise from 11,000 licenses to its full workforce of about 120,000 employees, a tenfold expansion and roughly 36 times the size of its first pilot.
The bank plans to move beyond internal productivity and embed OpenAI technology into core banking products, customer service, risk analysis, and software development.
During the pilot, licensed employees saved close to 3 hours per week on routine tasks, and more than 80% opened the assistant every day.
Staff built thousands of custom internal GPTs for specific jobs without a top-down mandate, showing demand came from the ground up.
BBVA is testing customer-facing AI, including app demos in Italy and Germany and a path for clients to reach the bank through ChatGPT.
The deal shows heavily regulated banks standardizing on one AI assistant for the entire workforce rather than limiting it to small technical teams.

Stats & Key Facts

#About 120,000 employees worldwide will receive ChatGPT Enterprise access, a tenfold increase over the prior deployment.
#The bank operates across 25 countries, the full scope of the rollout.
#The pilot began in May 2024 with 3,300 ChatGPT accounts.
#Licenses grew to 11,000, more than a threefold increase before the full rollout.
#Licensed users saved close to 3 hours per week on routine work.
#More than 80% of pilot users opened the assistant daily.

Full workforce of 120,000 employees gets ChatGPT Enterprise

The headline of the deal is scale across the entire bank.

›BBVA is extending ChatGPT Enterprise to all of its roughly 120,000 employees, up from 11,000 paid licenses.
›The rollout spans 25 countries where the bank operates, reaching staff in every business area rather than a single technical group.
›At full size, the deployment is about ten times the prior phase and roughly 36 times the original 3,300-account pilot.

From a 3,300-account test in May 2024 to a full rollout

The expansion came after almost two years of staged testing.

BBVA started working with OpenAI in May 2024, giving 3,300 employees ChatGPT accounts to test the technology in daily work. Internal demand grew faster than expected, so the bank expanded to 11,000 paid licenses, a more than threefold increase.

After that phase proved its value, BBVA committed to the company-wide rollout. The strategic alliance was formally announced on December 12, 2025, following nearly two years of joint work between the two companies.

Three hours saved per week and daily use by most staff

Pilot results gave the bank the evidence to scale up.

›Licensed employees saved close to 3 hours per week on routine tasks by automating work with ChatGPT.
›More than 80% of those users opened the assistant at least once a day.
›Staff created thousands of custom internal GPTs tailored to specific jobs, building adoption from the bottom up rather than waiting for a mandate.

Risk analysis, software development, and banker support as core targets

Under the expanded deal, the bank wants AI inside its core operations, not only in chat windows.

›Streamlining and strengthening risk-analysis processes.
›Redesigning how software is developed inside the bank.
›Equipping relationship managers and bankers to better support clients.
›Building employee task-automation tools, described internally as a digital alter ego.
›Improving everyday internal productivity tools.

Customer-facing AI tested in Italy and Germany

BBVA is also taking AI to the people it serves, not only its own staff.

The bank is developing an intelligent conversational assistant for customers and a path for clients to interact with BBVA directly through ChatGPT. It has shown demos of ChatGPT-integrated banking apps in markets such as Italy and Germany.

This step moves the partnership from internal productivity toward direct customer service. If it works at scale, account holders would handle some banking tasks through an AI assistant rather than traditional menus or call queues.

What the deal signals for banking and AI adoption

For business readers, the value is in the pattern, not only the company.

A heavily regulated global bank standardizing on a single AI assistant for its entire workforce is a notable shift. Many large firms still restrict generative AI to small teams over security and compliance concerns, so a bank-wide rollout suggests the technology has cleared internal review at a major institution.

BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila framed the move as entering the AI era with even greater ambition, after the bank's earlier digital and mobile shift. OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman described BBVA as a strong example of a large financial institution adopting AI with real ambition and speed. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many BBVA employees will use ChatGPT Enterprise?

All of BBVA's roughly 120,000 employees across 25 countries will receive ChatGPT Enterprise access. That is about ten times the prior deployment of 11,000 licenses.

When did BBVA start using ChatGPT?

BBVA began in May 2024 with 3,300 ChatGPT accounts, then grew to 11,000 paid licenses. The full company-wide rollout was announced on December 12, 2025.

What results did BBVA see during the pilot?

Licensed employees saved close to 3 hours per week on routine tasks, and more than 80% used the assistant daily. Staff also built thousands of custom internal GPTs for specific jobs.

Will BBVA customers interact with AI directly?

Yes. BBVA is testing customer-facing AI, including a path for clients to reach the bank through ChatGPT and ChatGPT-integrated app demos shown in Italy and Germany.

What will BBVA use OpenAI technology for beyond chat?

The bank plans to embed the technology into risk analysis, software development, banker support, and internal productivity tools, rather than limiting it to a standalone chat assistant.

BBVA's move from a small pilot to a 120,000-employee rollout shows how quickly a major bank scaled generative AI once daily use took hold. The next test is whether embedding the technology into risk, development, and customer service delivers results as clear as the early productivity gains.