SBS has launched SBS AI Foundation, embedding AI into core banking products used by over 1.500 institutions.
The new offering is built on the SBS Data Platform and draws on data already held within each client's own systems, with governance and security maintained inside the institution's environment rather than through an external overlay.
Addressing the gap between AI pilots and enterprise deployment
According to figures cited by SBS from Accenture, only 34% of banks have scaled artificial intelligence for a core process such as regulatory reporting or credit decisioning, with most institutions remaining in the experimentation phase. Two factors are identified as limiting wider adoption: the level of regulatory scrutiny banks operate under, and the complexity of extending a pilot project institution-wide. The latter requires converting data held across dozens of internal systems into a consistent, trusted dataset capable of supporting AI at scale, an infrastructure requirement many institutions have not yet met. As a result, many financial institutions continue to run proofs of concept that do not progress to full deployment.
SBS positions AI Foundation as a response to this gap. Because the company's software is already embedded in clients' core operations, the AI layer connects directly to existing product data rather than requiring a separate integration project, which SBS states allows institutions to adopt the tools without disrupting daily operations.
Embedded use cases across the product suite
According to the official press release, SBS AI Foundation is being rolled out across the SBS product suite, starting with two capabilities. Customer Engagement Intelligence is designed to give relationship managers a consolidated view of each customer ahead of an interaction, including likely needs and relevant offers, intended to make client conversations more targeted. An AI Assistant for Banking Teams is aimed at staff in service, compliance, and operations functions, allowing them to query their institution's own data directly and reducing administrative and manual work involved in day-to-day decision-making.
Eric Bierry, CEO at SBS, said that clients had been asking how to deploy AI safely while meeting regulatory requirements, and that SBS Foundation was developed as a way to build that capability into platforms institutions already operate.
Availability of SBS AI Foundation is currently limited to a select group of clients, with a broader rollout planned for early 2027. For the more than 1.500 financial institutions already running SBS products, the company frames the launch as extending existing infrastructure rather than requiring separate AI implementation projects, an approach that reflects a broader industry pattern of core banking vendors integrating AI capabilities directly into existing platforms rather than positioning them as standalone tools.
