Backbase unveils world’s first AI-powered banking platform, catalysing growth for African banks

In a defining moment for the global banking industry, Backbase, the Amsterdam-headquartered fintech pioneer, has launched the world’s first AI-powered banking platform. This next-generation innovation, building on its Intelligence Fabric introduced in 2024, promises to empower banks to accelerate growth and efficiency by unifying customer service and digital sales in a single intelligent platform.

While global in ambition, the platform’s potential impact on African banking cannot be overstated. In a region where financial inclusion is expanding and digital adoption is growing at double-digit rates, African banks stand to benefit immensely from technologies that enable them to scale efficiently, serve new markets, and deepen customer relationships — all while managing operational costs and compliance risks.

A timely shift for African banking

African banks face unique pressures: a large unbanked population, increasing competition from nimble fintech’s, fragmented legacy systems, and the urgent need to drive digital transformation without overburdening limited resources. For many, the complexity of overhauling existing infrastructure and keeping pace with customer expectations has led to piecemeal adoption of digital tools, resulting in limited returns on innovation investments.

Backbase’s AI-powered Banking Platform aims to change that trend.

“This isn’t proof-of-concept AI,” said Jouk Pleiter, CEO and Founder of Backbase. “This is a packaged, production-ready operating model to move banks from experimentation to execution, fast. AI waits for no bank. It’s not a wait-and-see—it’s here, and it’s rewriting the rules of the industry.”

Available now—and Africa-ready

The AI-powered Banking Platform is already live and delivering results for early adopters globally. It is now available for deployment across Africa, offering a turnkey solution for banks seeking to break free from legacy constraints and leap into the future of financial services.

For African financial institutions navigating shifting customer expectations, economic volatility, and increasing competition, Backbase’s offering provides a much-needed platform for resilience and growth. Whether in retail, SME, commercial, private, or wealth banking, the platform adapts to each institution’s unique context while offering the scalability needed for continent-wide impact.

Transforming customer engagement and sales in Africa

At its core, the AI-powered platform is built to transform how banks engage with customers and deliver services. For African institutions navigating diverse linguistic, cultural, and economic contexts, this offers compelling benefits. With intelligent automation and data-driven insights, banks can offer self-service tools that feel personal and intuitive, regardless of whether customers are accessing services from urban hubs or rural communities.

The platform’s ability to scale end-to-end automation and AI-powered up- and cross-selling journeys means banks can unlock new revenue streams with greater efficiency. It enables institutions to onboard and activate customers faster, deepen relationships through personalised offers, and proactively retain clients with targeted engagement strategies.

This solution could be a game-changer for markets like Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, and South Africa—where digital banking is on the rise, but profitability remains elusive. By aligning AI capabilities with local business goals and regulatory frameworks, banks can reduce friction in service delivery, empower employees to make faster, data-informed decisions, and ultimately drive sustainable growth.

The Intelligence Fabric: A data revolution

Central to the platform is Backbase’s Intelligence Fabric—a unified data foundation that translates customer behaviour, transactions, and operational patterns into actionable intelligence in real time. This technology, introduced in 2024, overcomes one of the biggest challenges African banks faces: fragmented data trapped in legacy systems.

A breakthrough component of the Intelligence Fabric is Agentic AI—modular, intelligent software agents designed specifically for banking. These agents automate routine tasks, recommend next-best actions, and boost productivity across both front and back-office operations, all within pre-defined ethical and operational guardrails.

Security, trust, and compliance by design

AI’s successful application in banking is hinged not only on performance but also on trust. In a region where digital fraud, identity theft, and cybersecurity threats remain top concerns for consumers and regulators alike, Backbase’s platform has been engineered with compliance and operational integrity at its core.

Every AI-driven decision and recommendation made by the platform is transparent, auditable, and secure. Banks retain control over how AI agents behave, are trained, and are deployed, ensuring full alignment with regulatory mandates across African jurisdictions.

Moreover, by integrating governance protocols and risk management tools directly into the AI layer, Backbase enables African banks to adopt advanced technology without compromising on accountability or trust—a non-negotiable in today’s financial environment.

Closing the AI talent gap in Africa

One of the more pressing challenges facing African financial institutions is the talent gap in artificial intelligence. Most banks lack the in-house expertise to build, train, and scale AI systems, and the global shortage of data scientists and machine learning engineers only compounds the issue.

To bridge this divide, Backbase has embedded an AI Factory into the platform’s delivery model. This means African banks don’t just get software; they gain access to a team of AI specialists who collaborate directly with their staff to co-create solutions, transfer skills, and implement high impact use cases while building internal competence that will support them well into the future.

Looking ahead

Africa’s banking sector stands at a pivotal moment. The digital age has ushered in unprecedented opportunities, but to seize them fully, banks must move beyond digital window-dressing to adopt integrated, intelligent systems that enable real transformation.

As Pleiter puts it, “Banks don’t need more pilots—they need outcomes.” With this launch, Backbase may have delivered just that.