Piraeus partners Accenture and Anthropic to launch new AI hub

Piraeus Bank in Greece has partnered with Accenture to establish a new AI hub and scale the development and application of artificial intelligence across the group.

According to a statement from the bank, the hub will act as a "central engine for designing, developing and scaling advanced AI capabilities across Piraeus' full value chain".

Supported by AI research fintech Anthropic, the initiative aims to "drive the reinvention of Piraeus' banking processes" across compliance, operations, customer experience, and risk management.

Additionally, Piraeus hopes that the hub will act as a catalyst for "attracting, developing and upskilling specialised talent through targeted recruitment and structured learning programmes", such as Udacity, Accenture's AI-native learning and training platform.

Building on Piraeus' 2021 partnership with Accenture to adopt a cloud-first operating model, this latest initiative taps into Accenture's AI expertise, including its data and AI Centre of Excellence in Athens, to advance the bank's strategic AI objectives.

Harry Margaritis, Piraeus' group chief operating officer (COO), says the AI hub represents a "strategic inflection point" for the bank, which oversees approximately €91 million in assets, employs 8,100 staff, and operates a network of 368 branches across Greece.

"We are advancing from individual AI deployments to a unified, enterprise-level capability that is deeply embedded in how the bank operates," continues Margaritis.

The COO highlights the importance of implementing AI ethically, noting that the work with Accenture and integration of Anthropic's AI technology, including its flagship LLM Claude, will help the bank to "scale advanced AI responsibly, anchored in strong governance, transparency and human control".

In addition to its AI initiatives, Piraeus launched Snappi, Greece's first ECB-licensed neobank, last September in collaboration with core banking software vendor Natech and its partner Neptune International.

After three years in development, Snappi debuted with offerings such as Greek IBAN accounts, money transfers, virtual and physical bank cards, cross-border transactions, and utility payments.

For further insights into Snappi's progress and its journey, check out this week's What the FinTech? podcast episode with the challenger's CEO, Gabriella Kindert.