SBS and NVIDIA Launch Sovereign AI Platform for Banks
SBS has launched the SBS AI Foundation, a sovereign AI platform developed in partnership with NVIDIA, designed to allow banks to deploy generative and agentic AI capabilities without moving customer or transaction data outside their own environments. The platform is currently live with Scottish Building Society on AWS and is available to SBS’s global client base of over 1,500 financial institutions.
Bringing AI to the Data, Not the Other Way Around
The platform integrates NVIDIA NIM microservices, NVIDIA NeMo Guardrails, and open Nemotron models directly into SBS’s existing banking software infrastructure. By embedding AI runtime within the bank’s environment, the solution addresses strict data governance requirements under regulations like GDPR and local data-residency laws.
Data flows from core banking, lending, digital banking, and regulatory reporting systems into a unified intelligence layer. This layer supports use cases spanning customer engagement, internal decision-making, and real-time risk monitoring — all while maintaining control over sensitive information.
Scottish Building Society has already seen tangible benefits from early adoption. According to SBS, response times have improved by roughly 30% to 40%, with more consistent AI outputs and enhanced explainability that aligns with regulatory audit expectations.
Deployment Across Key Clients
The first live implementation marks a milestone: the full NVIDIA AI stack running inside a core banking system. SBS highlights this as proof that large-scale AI adoption is possible without compromising data security or compliance standards.
SBS serves clients including Santander, Société Générale, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, HSBC, and Nationwide. These institutions operate across 80 countries, giving SBS a strategic edge in embedding AI where banks already store critical data.
Features Built for Banking Needs
- Data Sovereignty: Banks choose deployment models including private cloud, managed cloud, or on-premises setups.
- Regulatory Control: NeMo Guardrails ensure AI behavior stays aligned with internal policies and external compliance mandates.
- Operational Intelligence: Natural language interfaces simplify querying complex datasets for actionable insights.
- Customer Personalization: Onboarding processes are guided by AI using proprietary records and product portfolios.
- Risk & Auditability: Continuous risk monitoring identifies exposure points and generates audit-ready trails.
- Agentic Roadmap: Future updates will introduce autonomous agents capable of executing multi-step workflows under human supervision.
Industry Gap Widens
Eric Bierry, CEO of SBS, emphasized the importance of balancing innovation with trust. “Banks set the standard for protecting customer data, and holding that standard shouldn’t mean having to wait on AI,” he told FinTech Magazine.
His statement reflects broader trends. A recent Gartner survey of 183 CFOs found that 84% of finance organizations have either implemented AI or plan to do so soon. Yet only 7% report achieving high or very high impact from these initiatives — suggesting many struggle to translate investment into meaningful outcomes.
Looking ahead, SBS plans to expand agentic capabilities, bringing even more automation to routine banking tasks while preserving oversight and transparency demanded by both regulators and end users.
