BBVA and Microsoft have been working together for more than a year on the introduction of AI in software development, with the aim of promoting new digital products and improving existing ones. Both companies are driving not only the adoption of new GitHub Copilot agent-based solutions, but a whole new way of working that is transforming the teams and roles of programmers involved in creating technology products.
With nearly 15,000 GitHub Copilot licenses that 70% of its developers already use, the bank shortens the delivery times of its developments, accelerates the modernization of its code and reorganizes its teams, now more focused on value creation.
Today, AI tools are available to developers across the Group through a new global platform, to which more than 100,000 code repositories have been migrated that support multiple products and services. In these environments, the development, deployment and maintenance of applications is carried out following the highest quality and security standards, also guaranteeing the traceability necessary to comply with the demanding regulations of the financial sector. This advance has been a key milestone by establishing a standardized system that allows new functionalities to be integrated into digital products and corrections to be applied automatically and continuously in the bank’s main systems, without the need for interruptions or cuts in service.
Workflow coordination tasks
The impact of AI is also reflected in the way the teams responsible for designing and evolving products work. Thanks to the use of Microsoft’s agentic AI, engineers have gone from executing manual tasks to automatically coordinating complete workflows ranging from the generation of technical and functional documentation to project validation or incident management. This allows you to accelerate the complete delivery cycle of functionalities in the products and reduce repetitive low-value tasks.
“Together with Microsoft, we are transforming the way technology is built within a large organization. The incorporation of AI is allowing our teams to focus increasingly on solution design and decision making, evolving towards a more strategic and efficient work model, with a single objective: to accelerate the creation of faster, smarter and more humane financial products for our clients,” says Sergio Bonich, Global Head of Software Development at BBVA.
This new paradigm not only allows code to be developed with greater speed and precision, but also contributes to the modernization of BBVA’s technological ‘core’, that is, the platforms that support important transactions and operational services of the bank and that support its main products. In this context, projects aimed at refactoring, migrating and modernizing this historical code using AI tools make it possible to accelerate traditionally complex processes, improve efficiency in the evolution of digital products and facilitate the transformation of critical systems while maintaining the quality, security and operational continuity standards required by the financial sector.
“At Microsoft we are working with BBVA as a strategic partner in a deep, ambitious and transversal transformation in all phases of the software development cycle, combining innovation, security and scale in the deployment in all the countries where BBVA operates and supporting the evolution of its digital products,” indicates Silvia Hernández, director of global clients at Microsoft.
Innovation applied to software development
BBVA hosted the GitHub EuroCats 2026 event held on May 19 and 20. The meeting brought together more than 300 technology leaders and specialists from across Europe to share experiences on the deployment of artificial intelligence in highly regulated corporate environments and its impact on the development of innovative products. The hosting of this event reinforces the bank’s role as a connection point between the technological ecosystem and innovation applied to the development of software, digital products and artificial intelligence.
The impact of AI is also reflected in the way of working of the teams responsible for designing and evolving the product.
The collaboration with Microsoft is part of BBVA’s strategy of relying on an ecosystem of leading technology partners to accelerate its artificial intelligence roadmap and the launch of new products. The bank has a transversal roadmap based on eight lines of work, which contemplates the adoption of AI in the relationship with clients, the work of managers, in risk management, software development and the daily life of employees to create more personalized products and services, as well as a more conversational bank that accompanies its clients in their life and business projects.
