TL;DR
NatWest has embedded AI across customer service, wealth management, and software development in what its CIO calls the bank’s first year of deployment at scale. The bank is now moving to agentic AI, with 25,000 customers set to access a new financial assistant built on OpenAI models by end of Q1 2026.
Customer service: from 4 to 21 AI journeys
Generative AI has been integrated into Cora, NatWest’s digital assistant, expanding the number of customer journeys it supports from four to 21. The bank reports faster resolution times and less need for human intervention.
The next phase is more ambitious. An agentic financial assistant within Cora, built on OpenAI models, will let customers ask questions about their transactions and spending patterns in plain language. Voice-to-voice capabilities that incorporate conversational nuance are planned for later in 2026, alongside an agentic fraud support feature that lets customers report and resolve cases through natural conversation.
Wealth management: 30% more client time
In NatWest’s private banking and wealth management division, AI generates summaries of meetings, documents, and correspondence that relationship managers previously had to compile manually. The result: advisers now spend 30% more of their time in direct client conversation rather than on administration.
Software development: AI writes 35% of code
The bank’s 12,000 engineers use AI coding tools that now produce over a third of NatWest’s code — drafting, reviewing, and testing software. In financial crime units, trials of agentic engineering delivered a tenfold increase in productivity. NatWest hired nearly 1,000 graduate software engineers in India and the UK during 2025.
Governance and research
NatWest has established an AI research office focused on audiovisual conversational systems and proprietary small language models. The bank has formalised its approach through an AI and Data Ethics Code of Conduct and is participating in the Financial Conduct Authority’s Live AI Testing programme.
Looking forward
NatWest’s deployment pattern — moving from internal efficiency to customer-facing agentic tools — offers a roadmap for UK financial services firms. The combination of FCA engagement and structured ethics governance may also set expectations for how regulators expect banks to approach AI adoption.