Customers Bank partners with OpenAI to automate banking processes

12 articles · Updated · CNBC · Apr 27

The multiyear deal embeds OpenAI engineers at Customers Bank to automate lending, onboarding, and payments, aiming to cut loan processing from 30-45 days to about seven.
CEO Sam Sidhu expects the project to improve the bank's efficiency ratio from 49 to the low 40s and boost returns starting next year, with AI agents rolling out across operations within 6-12 months.
The collaboration involves co-creating enterprise solutions for potential industry-wide adoption, allowing the smaller lender to compete with larger banks and explore new AI-driven business lines while reducing hiring needs.

As AI automates lending, how will banks prove their decisions are free from bias to regulators and customers?

Is the banking workforce truly prepared for the massive job transformation that autonomous AI demands?

Can a small bank's agility truly overcome the massive AI investments of giants like JPMorgan and Citi?

What happens when a tech giant's engineers gain deep access to a bank's core operations and data?

In an escalating AI 'fraud arms race,' can defensive models adapt fast enough to outsmart criminal AI?