More than 90% of all issued loans processed at Happen Bank in the second quarter did not involve a person. 

That record was driven by AI and machine learning optimizations across the digital bank’s origination pipeline, Chief Executive Scott Sanborn said during the company’s Q2 earnings call on July 27. 

The San Francisco-based bank processed nearly 30% more loans in the second quarter compared to Q2 2025 while running its call center with 10% fewer employees year over year — which it credited entirely to AI.

“Our new AI member service agent, Penny, is successfully resolving 30% more calls than our legacy system, leading to faster response times, higher customer satisfaction and reduced costs,” Sanborn said. 

AI is not only used to answer client queries but also to evaluate client conversations to reduce pain points, Sanborn said.  

“AI servicing tools have contributed to a 65% reduction in after-call work and a 10% reduction in average call time,” he said. 

Use of AI 

As the company continues to deploy AI, it is keeping tabs on the rising costs associated with AI, Sanborn previously told FinAi News. 

The company has capped the use of AI tokens for employees, while remaining flexible if a project is deemed worthy, he said. 

“We have put the infrastructure, training, controls and governance in place to enable safe model-agnostic connectivity to our internal tools and data,” he said during the earnings call. “Approximately 90% of our employees are regularly leveraging this infrastructure to accelerate productivity, improve problem-solving and find efficiencies.” 

Top use cases of AI at Happen Bank include: 

• Drafting emails and creating presentations;  

• Building and evaluating financial models;  

• Conducting compliance reviews;  

• Developing marketing campaigns; and  

• Reducing the time it takes to onboard new partners. 

One of the brightest spots for AI at Happen Bank is software development, Sanborn said. 

“In engineering, the team is using AI to both develop code and assess its quality, leading to an acceleration in the velocity of our code releases,” he said. 

BY THE NUMBERS: In Q2, Happen Bank reported: 

• Total originations of $3.1 billion, up 29% YoY; 

• Total revenue of $262.9 billion, up 6% YoY; and 

• Other non-interest expenses, which includes tech expenses, of $67.3 million, up 14% YoY. 

Shares of Happen Bank [Nasdaq: SAN] were trading at $18.95 at market close today,  up 1.07% from market open. HAPN has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion.

Register here for the FinAi Lending Summit, set for Oct. 7-8 in Las Vegas.