National Australia Bank Ltd’s (NAB) technology chief said the firm will soon begin testing the security and operational guardrails of an agentic artificial intelligence (AI) platform as the country’s largest lenders seek to deploy the technology more widely.
NAB’s goal to let AI agents interact with bank staff and systems on behalf of customers is facing challenges including how and what the agents can do, according to Patrick Wright, group executive for technology and enterprise operations.
"Customers will expect one day to interact with us through agents," Wright said in an interview, adding the bank is looking to do pilots and experiments over the next year.
The comments mark the first time NAB has outlined its plans. The Melbourne-based firm is currently using agentic AI for some internal processes, including helping its operations team complete complex tasks faster, Wright said.
Testing will focus on reducing the potential for unforeseen errors, given "security is the thing I think about,” and "we’ve got to do it in a way that’s safe,” he said.
NAB ranked 34th in the 2025 Evident AI Index of global banks listed by AI maturity, ahead of rivals ANZ Group Holdings Ltd and Westpac Banking Corp, but well behind Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which placed fourth. CBA has this year rolled out new AI services and CEO Matt Comyn said agentic systems were helping write fraud rules and strengthen security patching.
"There’s enormous potential and value for our company, but we want to make sure we do it in a safe way,” Wright said. – Bloomberg
