AI is transforming the financial industry, and ABN AMRO is embracing this change to enhance services and unlock new opportunities. Central to these efforts is the GenAI Acceleration Programme, developed with ADC, which turns ambitious ideas into measurable results. This programme is a strategic enabler, aligning with ABN AMRO’s vision to become North-West AI-powered personal bank by 2030. By uniting teams, fast-tracking promising ideas, and embedding responsible innovation, the bank will drive meaningful impact.
In this interview, Hiek van der Scheer, Chief Data Officer at ABN AMRO, shares how the GenAI Acceleration Programme is shaping the bank’s AI journey.
Hiek, how does ABN AMRO see the evolution of AI?
By 2030, we aim to become an AI-native bank—a real-time intelligent banking platform where AI, human expertise, and partner ecosystems converge. Our ambition isn’t just to adopt AI; it’s to lead with it. Our AI strategy is built on three pillars:
- AI for customers: enhancing personalized services.
- AI for employees: transforming operational efficiencies.
- AI for new business frontiers: exploring untapped opportunities for innovation.
To achieve this, we’ve mapped out maturity plateaus to guide our progress. We’re transitioning from the first plateau—focused on experimentation and learning—towards the second, where we’ll systemically scale AI across multiple focus areas like personalized banking, intelligent lending, and AI-powered risk & compliance. While the pace of AI evolution is unprecedented, we’re committed to balancing bold steps with a foundation of responsible governance.
What role does the GenAI Acceleration Programme play in this vision?
The GenAI Acceleration Programme is the accelerator of our AI strategy. It streamlines how GenAI ideas are explored, developed, and implemented, ensuring alignment with the bank’s strategic goals.
Unlike traditional AI models, GenAI often involves off-the-shelf pre-trained models that require direct collaboration and integration across Business, Advanced Analytics, and IT. To manage this complexity, we’ve created a structured AI funnel, which prioritizes high-potential initiatives and grants autonomy to successful teams within our federated data governance model. This approach accelerates progress while maintaining accountability.
The programme also embeds our AI principles: lawful, ethical and reliable into this process of exploration, development and use. This ensures our innovations are carefully constructed for are clients and colleagues.
How does the GenAI Acceleration Programme ensure efforts are impactful and strategic?
The programme acts as a catalyst, ensuring GenAI initiatives align with ABN AMRO’s strategy. By connecting teams and removing barriers, it transforms ideas into scalable, impactful solutions.
Take corporate banking as an example. We’re using GenAI to enhance the lending process, not to replace human decision-making, but to make it smarter and more efficient. The programme supports such transformative efforts by impediment remediation, fostering collaboration, and ensuring alignment with business goals.
Together with ADC, we continuously adapt and focus on building a purposeful portfolio that advances our ambition to lead in AI-powered banking by 2030.
”Unlike traditional AI models, GenAI often involves off-the-shelf pre-trained models that require direct collaboration and integration across Business, Advanced Analytics, and IT.
What practical steps have been taken to scale GenAI at ABN AMRO?
Scaling GenAI requires both cultural transformation and technological enablement. We’re moving from ambition to action. As concrete examples, besides the already mentioned innovation funnel:
- For the EU AI Act Implementation we’ve implemented an AI registry and supporting processes to align and embed compliance into daily workflows.
- We empower teams through learning and development with tailored training programs focused on responsible AI, risk management, and compliance. Complementing this, initiatives like lightning talks and the learning week are fostering a culture of AI literacy across the organization.
- To boost adoption we started and are expanding our GenAI Navigator Network fostering internal connectivity and knowledge-sharing, breaking down silos across teams.
These efforts connect isolated GenAI experiments to strategic focus areas, ensuring scalability and sustainability.
So, what does responsible GenAI look like in practice?
Trust is the foundation of everything we do. In banking, we can’t afford to “move fast and break things.” Responsible GenAI starts with strong governance—clear policies, transparent models, and rigorous testing—but it also goes beyond compliance.
For example:
- We’ve developed practical guidelines for teams working on GenAI projects, ensuring clarity at every stage.
- Regular AI clinics provide hands-on advice and a space to discuss challenges.
- As mentioned, company-wide training sessions prepare employees for GenAI transformation.
- We’re also exploring Small Language Models (SLMs) as a sustainable alternative to energy-intensive Large Language Models (LLMs), reducing environmental impact while enhancing data sovereignty. This reflects our broader commitment to sustainable and transparent AI systems.
What skills and mindsets are critical for GenAI success?
While technical skills are important, mindset and collaboration are even more critical. Curiosity, resilience, and a willingness to challenge the status quo are essential—not just for data scientists, but or even more for everyone involved in GenAI, from IT, business leaders to compliance experts.
To foster this mindset, we invest heavily in AI literacy through training, cross-disciplinary collaboration & inspiration, and internal knowledge-sharing.
With ADC’s support, we’re building capabilities to empower teams to take ownership of GenAI and scale it independently.
What excites you most about the future of GenAI at ABN AMRO?
The possibilities are immense, but so are the responsibilities. GenAI offers opportunities to create innovative products, make banking more inclusive, and enhance security and sustainability.
By moving step by step, we’re scratching the surface of GenAI’s potential to transform not just banking, but together society as a whole. If we succeed, we won’t just set a benchmark for responsible AI innovation, we’ll deliver real impact, creating a genuine sense of collective achievement.
As we scale towards our second AI plateau, we’re streamlining these capabilities into our operations. By 2030, we aim to lead as North-West Europe’s AI-powered personal bank, setting the standard for innovation built on trust.
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