NatWest Group has today announced that it has become the first UK-headquartered bank to work with OpenAI as part of a collaboration that supports its strategic focus on bank-wide simplification, which includes deploying AI to meet customers’ needs faster and more effectively and to increase productivity and efficiency across the bank.  

The wide-ranging, large scale collaboration has the potential to accelerate how quickly and widely NatWest can deploy some of the latest and most powerful developments in generative AI (GenAI), providing direct access to OpenAI’s latest technology and insights, while upholding industry-leading data privacy guardrails*. 

Building on the success of its AI virtual assistant tools like Cora+ and AskArchie+**, this collaboration will see NatWest and OpenAI come together to help meet more consumer banking needs, as well as enabling the bank to adapt to future opportunities at speed and scale.

The development of the bank’s digital assistant services for customers will be a key area of focus, including new ways that customers can use AI to help them with more complex tasks, including the identification, reporting and resolution of fraud and scams. In addition, NatWest believes there is opportunity to leverage digital assistants to help customers better understand their financial position, using AI and help them to plan and set goals for the future.  

For colleagues, potential benefits could include developing even more sophisticated tools to assist them with supporting customers, including fraud prevention and complaints handling across its Retail, Commercial and Wealth businesses.  

NatWest Group Chief Information Officer, Scott Marcar, said: “Our strategic focus on bank-wide simplification continues to make life easier for both our customers and colleagues. With the needs of customers evolving at an extraordinary pace, it’s our role to be a trusted partner and meet their expectations faster and more effectively than ever before. AI is already playing a vital role in our digital transformation; helping colleagues across the bank to serve customers in a more personalised and productive way. We now have the potential to accelerate this even further by accessing OpenAI’s newest technologies and expertise. As we adapt to advances in technology , we will continue to do so in the safest and most responsible way, prioritising our customers and colleagues every step of the way.”  

CEO of Retail Banking at NatWest Group, Angela Byrne, added: “Around 80% of our retail customers bank with us entirely digitally, which is why continually innovating to deliver the best digital experience possible is a non-negotiable. GenAI is already transforming how we interact with our customers, both digitally and by better enabling colleagues. Our work with OpenAI will take this even further through redefined digital experiences and helping to offer even better protection from threats like fraud and financial crime.” 

Giancarlo Lionetti, OpenAI’s Chief Commercial Officer said: "This wide-scale collaboration with NatWest underscores its commitment to deliver industry-leading digital banking experiences. The first wave of activities will deliver tangible benefits to both NatWest’s customers and employees, while our ongoing work together paves the way for future AI banking innovations.”

With over 275 AI projects being explored and around 25 use cases in production, NatWest has already seen substantial improvements in how it operates and serves customers. The GenAI functionality offered by Cora+ has shown a 150% improvement in customer satisfaction, while reducing the number of times a colleague needs to intervene.  

Harnessing the power of AI in a responsible and ethical way is a core part of the bank’s technology strategy. As AI projects are developed across the bank, NatWest will continue to prioritise keeping customers and colleagues safe and will be governed by principles in its Artificial Intelligence & Data Ethics Code of Conduct, to ensure that AI is used to educate, protect, and empower its customers and colleagues.