Key facts
- BNP Paribas will keep sensitive customer data and critical operations off public cloud infrastructure.
- The bank signed a five-year cloud and AI partnership with Google.
- The deal grants BNP access to Google public-cloud infrastructure and Gemini models.
- BNP plans to use Google technology for tasks like invoice processing and data management.
- BNP will continue to use open-source models and maintain its partnership with Mistral AI.
- Google stated BNP will retain data ownership, and it won't be used to train its models.
BNP Paribas will continue to house sensitive customer data and critical operations on its own on-premise infrastructure, despite entering into a five-year partnership with Google for cloud and AI services. The agreement provides the French bank with access to Google's public cloud infrastructure and Gemini models, which will be used to develop AI agents for internal functions such as corporate credit memos, sales, trading, research, and structuring.
However, BNP Group Chief Information Officer Marc Camus clarified that the deal does not signify a complete shift to public cloud. He cited medical information held by its insurance operations as an example of highly confidential data that the bank avoids placing on public cloud solutions. BNP also intends to continue utilizing open-source models and maintain its existing partnership with French AI company Mistral, applying different providers for distinct applications.