BNP Paribas has signed a multi-year agreement with Mistral AI, the European rival of US ChatGPT developer OpenAI.

The partnership will give the bank access to all the French AI company’s current and future models to use in its business lines.

The firms have worked together since September 2023 when the global markets division of BNP Paribas began experimenting with Mistral AI’s large language models (LLMs).

The French banking group following strong trial results, it has started integrating the model in several of its divisions.

BNP Paribas said it is developing a number of use cases for the AI models across areas including customer support, sales and IT.

Sophie Heller, chief operating officer at BNP Paribas commercial, personal banking & services said that using generative AI models in the bank’s infrastructure met the organisations commitment to security.

"This partnership with Mistral AI marks a further step in developing hyper-personalised digital services for our customers,” she said. “As an example, Gen AI will allow us to launch high quality virtual assistants to answer clients’ questions 24/7 and to simplify end-to-end processes, enhancing the way our teams support clients.”

The move comes after BBVA announced plans to roll out OpenAI’s ChatGPT as part of a new deal in May.

The Spanish bank said the move makes it the first European bank to forge a partnership with the generative AI (GenAI) company.

The deal forms part of plans to identify how GenAI can expedite processes; improve productivity; and boost innovation through its ability to create text and images and process information, among other features.

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