Bank of Valletta is teaming with Oracle Financial Services to propel the bank’s shift toward an “AI-first operating model.” 

By mid-2026, the $19 billion Malta-based Bank of Valletta (BOV) plans to deploy Oracle AI agents across its retail, corporate banking, payments and insurance segments, according to a Jan. 21 bank release. What BOV plans to pay for Oracle’s technology was not disclosed.  

The agents will aim to streamline processes such as loan originations, credit decisions and customer engagement. The multiyear collaboration is also centered on compliance and risk management.  

BOV is working to “modernize responsibly” while evolving into “an AI-first financial services provider,” Chief Executive Kenneth Farrugia stated in the release.  

To measure return on investment, Oracle and BOV will use metrics such as time savings and value gained from automating manual and repetitive tasks that allow employees to focus on “high-value activities,” Sovan Shatpathy, senior vice president of product management and development at Oracle Financial Services, told FinAi News.  

“For example, employees can have more time and real-time intelligence to offer better customer care and interactions,” he said. “By leveraging Oracle’s AI agents and architecture, customers can transform labor-intensive workflows into automated, straight-through processes, delegating the heavy lifting of tasks such as data synthesis, summarization and contract creation to AI.” 

Cloud-native customization  

Oracle chose a cloud-native architecture to enable its AI agents because it provides the required “elasticity” — the ability to automatically scale in real time — for the agents to work across shared governance layers and execute multi-step outcomes, Shatpathy said.  

BOV can customize the agents for specific workflows “through built-in configurability, screen-level extensions and refining model prompts, or by adjusting endpoint access and process flows,” he said. 

“This blend of pre-built extensibility and flexible configuration allows them to align agents with specific line of business demands while maintaining strict guardrails through centralized, governed control,” he said.  

The agents are also built with explicit “human-in-the-loop” checkpoints and operate within pre-coded regulatory guardrails to ensure compliance, Shatpathy said.  

“Every action is governed by industry rules rather than opaque logic,” he said. 

Oracle ramps up partnerships  

Oracle formed or expanded partnerships with several FIs last year, including: 

• $574 billion PNC Bank integrated its embedded banking platform into the Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), enhancing connectivity across commercial and corporate banking operations, according to a July 29 PNC release; 
• JP Morgan Payments and Oracle launched new and enhanced integrations within the Oracle ERP and point-of-sale systems, according to an Oct. 15 JP Morgan release; and 
• $1.2 trillion Lloyds Bank expanded its collaboration with Oracle to strengthen its multicloud strategy, according to a March 20 Oracle release. 

Other notable partners include: 

• $2.4 trillion Bank of America;  
• $3.2 trillion HSBC;  
• $2.2 trillion Banco Santander; and 
• $1.6 trillion Deutsche Bank.  

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