Bendigo Bank has announced a major extension of its long-standing partnership with Google Cloud through a new multi-year agreement aimed at accelerating digital transformation, boosting workforce capabilities, and strengthening cybersecurity across the organisation.
The expanded collaboration builds on Google Cloud’s current role as the bank’s core digital infrastructure provider. With this foundation in place, Bendigo Bank plans to further integrate advanced AI tools to streamline operations, upskill employees, and deliver more personalised and efficient services to its 2.9 million customers—while maintaining high levels of trust, security, and risk management.
AI-First Strategy to Empower Teams and Elevate Customer Value
Under the new agreement, Bendigo Bank will provide all employees with access to Gemini Enterprise. Following a successful pilot—where the bank saw notable time savings, improved workflows, and innovative applications of AI across departments such as consumer banking, finance, risk, marketing, and technology—the organisation expects significant productivity gains.
Additionally, the bank will roll out Gemini Code Assist to its engineering teams, enabling developers to build, test, and deploy digital solutions more quickly and consistently, ultimately improving both customer and employee experiences.
Employees have already explored AI-driven innovations that:
- Speed up lending and refinancing processes with automated document, title, and lending checks
- Detect and disrupt potential financial crime using custom AI models that highlight high-risk transactions
- Leverage generative AI to analyse internal data, uncover market gaps, and improve product offerings
CEO Richard Fennell emphasised that expanding the partnership marks a key step toward building a truly AI-enabled workforce. “Our strengthened relationship with Google Cloud is about making AI accessible to every team member. By embedding these tools into everyday work, we’re empowering our people to innovate faster and deliver better outcomes for our customers,” he said.
Paul Migliorini, Vice President of Google Cloud Australia & New Zealand, added that the bank’s adoption of Gemini Enterprise highlights its forward-looking approach. “Bendigo Bank’s commitment to embracing AI demonstrates its determination to build a resilient, future-ready workforce and set new benchmarks for customer experience across Australia’s financial sector.”
Strengthening Cybersecurity with Integrated, AI-Driven Defences
In its continued drive toward secure digital transformation, Bendigo Bank will transition from its existing cybersecurity platforms to Google Security Operations and Google Security Command Centre. These tools will give the bank unified visibility and governance across its AI and data environments, while enhancing real-time threat detection and response capabilities.
The bank is also modernising its data environment by migrating to BigQuery and shifting its VMware workloads to Google Cloud. This transition aims to improve system resilience while ensuring high availability and uninterrupted services during the migration process.
