Bendigo Bank strikes Google deal to deploy Gemini AI and take on major rivals
Bendigo Bank boss Richard Fennell said the deal to roll out AI across its operations would deliver major changes but hopefully doesn’t cost jobs.
Bendigo Bank is taking the fight to its major rivals, striking a deal with tech giant Google to deploy Gemini AI across its operations as it pushes ahead with a major shift to the cloud.
The ASX-listed banking major, which is headquartered in Bendigo and Adelaide, inked the five-year deal with Google last week, with the bank’s boss noting new technology was part of a push to slash the cost-to-income ratio of Bendigo Bank.
Google’s Gemini platform is one of several AI technologies being rolled out across Australian banking.
Commonwealth Bank stamped a deal in August last year that saw it secure OpenAI as a technology partner amid a technology push in the banking heavyweight.
Bendigo Bank boss Richard Fennell said the deal with Google was built on the five-year relationship between the two and would deliver major changes across the banking player.
Mr Fennell, who took on the running of Bendigo Bank in August last year, said the use of AI across the bank and its subsidiary UP, was designed to boost the productivity of staff amid a plan to take on rivals.
Bendigo Bank will use Gemini to process lending applications from customers, with automated searches for documents and titles.
This is alongside plans to use the AI for Bendigo Bank’s scam-fighting efforts, using the technology to flag high-risk transactions.
The platform will also be used to analyse Bendigo Bank data, with Mr Fennell noting it could identify product market gaps.
“We think the productivity benefits we’re targeting, alongside other activities we’re undertaking, will be important to drive that lower cost to income,” Mr Fennell said.
“That’s not just taking costs out, we see this will help drive growth in the business and in the income side of it.”
The Gemini tools will be available to staff from December 1.
Investors punished Bendigo Bank in August when the lender revealed a cost surge, driven by wages and technology costs.
Mr Fennell wants to hit a return on equity target of more than 10 per cent by 2030. Rivals Westpac and ANZ are also pushing to reduce their costs, with both undertaking a major technology and staff reduction push.
Mr Fennell said Bendigo Bank was also looking at how it could use Google Gemini for its business customers.
Last week the prudential regulator warned it was seeing banks relaxing their lending standards amid red hot competition, warning this exposed the sector to further risks.
But Mr Fennell said he wanted humans to retain control of lending decisions, despite the implementation of AI in the process, pointing to Bendigo Bank’s low loss rate. “I wouldn’t expect us to change our risk appetite. It will allow us to more quickly assess,” he said.
Bendigo Bank axed 145 technology roles in September.
Mr Fennell said he had “hope” no staff would lose their jobs as a result of the implementation of the Gemini tools.
“This gives us a chance to write more business. We recognise scale is going to be important to us going forward. We want to grow the business,” he said.
Bendigo Bank posted a 2.9 per cent annualised growth rate for its lending book, to $17.2bn, at its first quarter earnings update on November 11.
But Mr Fennell said staff had to accept that “over time the skills and capabilities we require in different parts of the organisation will change”.
“We’re not doing this on the basis this is going to be rolled out to make wholesale reductions and be all about taking people out and cost out. This is about giving the latest capabilities to our people so they can help us innovate and drive business,” he said.
The Bendigo Bank boss said he was already seeing how AI could boost productivity, having used Gemini to prepare first drafts of some documents and a speech.
Mr Fennell said Bendigo Bank planned to mesh Gemini with some of the bank’s documents so the AI tool “can learn … and therefore give us more rich information”.
“It’s important a human stays involved in the process and what they’re seeing passes a sense check,” he said.
Consulting giant Deloitte was scorched after it emerged the firm had used AI to draft reports to the NSW government, producing fake quotes and citations.
Mr Fennell said Bendigo Bank would also start moving the data for its 2.9 million customers on to Google’s Cloud.
Bendigo Bank will migrate its operations to Google Security Operations and Google Security Command Centre for a single view of its data environment.
Google Cloud Australia and New Zealand boss Paul Migliorini said the adoption of Gemini Enterprise “demonstrates the innovative spirit and commitment to making its workforce resilient and confident for the future”.
“Through our ongoing sharing of knowledge and best practices, we are confident that the bank’s employees will become AI innovators in their own right,” he said.
Mr Migliorini said Bendigo Bank staff would set “new standards for customer experience and performance that may resonate across Australia’s entire financial services industry”.
Originally published as Bendigo Bank strikes Google deal to deploy Gemini AI and take on major rivals
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