BBVA Rolls Out ChatGPT Enterprise to All 120,000 Employees

BBVA will expand its OpenAI partnership into a multi-year strategic AI transformation program that brings ChatGPT Enterprise to all 120,000 of its employees across 25 countries — a 10x increase on the bank's current deployment.

The Spanish bank began working with OpenAI in May 2024 with 3,300 ChatGPT employee accounts. After early results, it scaled the rollout to 11,000 employees. Those workers built thousands of custom GPTs for collaboration and daily work. BBVA reports that users saved nearly three hours per week on routine tasks and that more than 80% of them engaged with the tools daily.

The full-group rollout turns BBVA into one of the largest enterprise deployments of generative AI in the financial services industry. That matters beyond one bank: it is a live test of whether foundation-model tools can operate at scale inside a highly regulated environment, where security, privacy, and audit controls typically slow enterprise adoption.

What the deal covers

Under the agreement, OpenAI will support BBVA's AI strategy across three fronts: transforming the customer experience, enabling new ways of working, and optimizing internal operations. The companies plan to build new AI solutions together to reshape customer interactions, equip bankers to better support clients, streamline and enhance risk analysis, and redesign internal processes such as software development and employee productivity support.

The ChatGPT Enterprise deployment includes security and privacy controls, access to OpenAI's latest models, and tools for building internal agents connected to BBVA's own systems. The two companies will also run specialized training programs and a structured adoption model to integrate the tools consistently and securely across all areas and functions.

A dedicated BBVA team will work directly with OpenAI's product, research, and technology success teams to accelerate the bank's shift toward becoming what it calls an AI-native institution.

Executive quotes

"We were pioneers in the digital and mobile transformation, and we are now entering the AI era with even greater ambition. Our alliance with OpenAI accelerates the native integration of artificial intelligence across the bank to create a smarter, more proactive, and completely personalized banking experience, anticipating the needs of every client," said Carlos Torres Vila, Chairman of BBVA.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, framed the deal as evidence that large financial institutions can move fast on AI. "BBVA is a strong example of how a large financial institution can adopt AI with real ambition and speed. With this expansion of our work together, BBVA will embed our AI into the core of their products and operations to enhance the overall banking experience for their customers," Altman said.

Customer-facing AI

BBVA is already using OpenAI models beyond employee productivity. It has launched Blue, a virtual assistant built on OpenAI technology that helps customers manage cards, accounts, and everyday questions using natural language.

The bank is also exploring ways to integrate its products and services so customers can interact with BBVA directly through ChatGPT — a step that would push the bank's services into OpenAI's consumer interface rather than confining them to its own apps and branches.

The market context

The expansion signals a shift among large enterprises from piloting generative AI to embedding it in core operations. OpenAI says more than one million business customers now work with it, including Deutsche Telekom, Virgin Atlantic, and Accenture, and calls its business platform the fastest-growing of all time.

BBVA's nearly two years of deployment data — three hours of weekly time savings per employee and 80% daily engagement at the 11,000-seat stage — now become the benchmark the bank will try to reproduce across a workforce more than ten times that size, under full regulatory scrutiny.