BNP Paribas and Mistral AI have entered into a multi-year partnership agreement, enabling BNP Paribas to access and utilize Mistral AI’s current and future commercial models across all its business lines. This collaboration extends a relationship that began in September 2023, when BNP Paribas’ Global Markets division started experimenting with Mistral AI’s models, yielding impressive results. Consequently, in February 2024, the partnership was expanded to include the entire BNP Paribas Group. Since then, the bank has been extensively piloting Mistral AI’s commercial models across various divisions.
Leveraging Mistral AI’s Large Language Models, BNP Paribas is exploring numerous applications in customer support, sales, IT, and other areas. Mistral AI’s strategy aligns well with the needs of highly regulated institutions, facilitating controlled deployment of advanced models on premises. Additionally, Mistral AI’s focus on delivering energy-efficient models ensures scalability.
Arthur Mensch, CEO of Mistral AI, highlighted the significance of this partnership, stating, “Our collaboration with BNP Paribas signifies a strong leap towards achieving Mistral AI’s mission of making AI accessible for all. We are pleased to be working so closely with their team, integrating our cutting-edge generative AI models into the banking ecosystem and so many of their business lines. I eagerly anticipate the expansion of our partnership, as we continue to develop innovative use cases that will redefine the future of financial services.”
Olivier Osty, Head of BNP Paribas Global Markets, echoed this sentiment, noting, “Our agreement with Mistral AI marks a major milestone in our digital strategy, and our ambition to be the number one European markets house. Generative AI has significant potential to enhance our client offering across sales, trading, research and more, and I am excited to continue our work with Mistral AI towards that goal.”
Sophie Heller, Chief Operating Officer at BNP Paribas Commercial, Personal Banking & Service, added, “This partnership with Mistral AI marks a further step in developing hyper-personalized digital services for our customers. As an example, Gen AI will allow us to launch high-quality virtual assistants to answer clients’ questions 24/7 and to simplify end-to-end processes, enhancing the way our teams support clients. Deploying Gen AI models within our infrastructure will ally the latest technology with our strong commitment to security.”
This strategic partnership promises to advance BNP Paribas’ digital capabilities, enhancing client services and operational efficiency through innovative AI applications.