Abu Dhabi-based technology group G42 and global banking giant Banco Santander have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly develop artificial intelligence solutions for the financial services industry. The agreement frames a strategic cooperation that pairs Santander’s massive banking footprint with G42’s deep AI and cloud infrastructure expertise.
Quick Facts
- What: MoU for strategic AI cooperation.
- Who: Abu Dhabi’s G42 and Spain’s Banco Santander.
- Focus: AI-powered advisory, savings, and banking intelligence.
Beyond a Vendor-Client Pact
This collaboration is structured as a co-development partnership, a move that distinguishes it from a typical technology procurement deal. Santander is set to contribute its scale, customer base, and regulatory knowledge, while G42 will provide its AI, cloud, and infrastructure capabilities.
“We are not selling AI to Santander – we are building it with them,” said Ashish Koshy, CEO of Inception, a G42 company. “Inception contributes its agentic platform, Catalyst, as the foundation; Santander contributes the domain expertise and use cases that will pressure-test it in one of the most demanding institutional environments in the world.”
This approach reflects a shared belief that AI will be a fundamental part of banking’s future.
“This agreement reflects Santander’s conviction that artificial intelligence will be foundational to the future of banking, not a feature layered on top of it,” commented Santander Chief Data & AI Officer, Ricardo Martín Manjón.
Ali Al Amine, Chief Commercial Officer at G42 International, added, “The technology, the talent, and the discipline we bring to this partnership reflect a decade of delivering sovereign AI exactly where the stakes are highest – across governments, healthcare and now banking at global scale.”
Inception and Presight to Drive Development
Two of G42’s companies, Inception and Presight, are expected to play central roles in the joint initiatives. Inception, G42’s agentic AI company, and Presight, a leader in applied AI for intelligent systems, will have their specific contributions defined as the workstreams progress.
The initial focus areas include developing AI-enabled advisory and savings solutions for customers and building a comprehensive banking intelligence layer across Santander’s global operations.
Democratizing the Private Banking Experience
The partnership’s ambition is to leverage AI to offer personalized services historically reserved for a select few.
“For a generation, the experience of being known by your bank – anticipated, advised, acted for – has been the privilege of private banking customers,” explained Thomas Pramotedham, CEO of Presight. “Together with Santander, Presight intends to build an intelligence platform designed to bring that experience within reach of every customer: an AI-powered financial agent that knows them, anticipates them and acts for them within the boundaries they set.”
Pramotedham noted the collaboration could set a new global benchmark for AI in financial services, potentially becoming one of the largest enterprise agentic AI mandates in European and Latin American banking. All commercially binding arrangements will be subject to necessary approvals and regulatory compliance.
About G42
G42 is a global leader in creating visionary artificial intelligence capabilities for a better tomorrow. Born in Abu Dhabi and operating across the world, G42 champions AI as a powerful force for good. Its people are constantly reimagining what technology can do, applying advanced thinking and innovation to accelerate progress and tackle society’s most pressing problems.
Source: Zawya
