Backbase buys Kasisto to bolster banking AI platform

Backbase has acquired Kasisto, adding its agentic AI business to Backbase's banking software platform.

Kasisto, which focuses on AI for banks and financial services groups, will bring its platform, sector data and New York-based team into Backbase. The business will be integrated into Backbase's AI-native Banking OS, its core software platform for banks.

The transaction reflects Backbase's effort to expand its role in the market for AI tools tailored to regulated financial institutions. Many banks still use AI agents in separate parts of their organisations, leaving customer requests split across digital channels, contact centres and operational teams.

Backbase argues that banks need systems that can carry a customer request through to completion while adhering to compliance and governance rules, rather than simply answering questions. Adding Kasisto is intended to help banks manage customer interactions across chat, messaging and voice while linking those exchanges to internal workflows.

Banking focus

Kasisto has specialised in conversational and agentic AI for financial services. The combination is designed to support a model in which customers, staff and AI agents work from the same customer data and within the same operating framework.

That approach is meant to address long-standing gaps between self-service tools, contact centres, servicing teams and back-office functions. The joint offering can support tasks such as gathering evidence, checking eligibility, applying policy, starting workflows and completing customer requests.

The acquisition also strengthens Backbase's presence in the US, which it identifies as its biggest strategic growth market. Kasisto's customer relationships in North America and its local team add to Backbase's existing operations in the region.

Backbase was founded in Amsterdam and sells software used by banks across retail banking, small business, commercial banking, private banking and wealth management. More than 120 banks use its platform, according to the company.

Immediate rollout

Backbase said the combined agentic banking suite is available immediately through its Banking OS for current and prospective customers, suggesting a rapid commercial integration of the acquired technology rather than a long transition period.

The deal comes as financial institutions weigh how to deploy AI in customer service and operations without breaching strict rules on risk, oversight and data use. Providers targeting the sector have increasingly focused on tools built for those constraints rather than adapted from broader consumer or general business AI systems.

Jouk Pleiter, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Backbase, said the acquisition is intended to strengthen the company's position with banks seeking to embed AI more deeply into their operating models.

"This acquisition sharpens our position as the strategic partner for banks serious about AI transformation. Kasisto brings proven agentic AI and deep financial services intelligence - moving us decisively into the era where customers express intent naturally and the bank resolves it through governed, intelligent execution. With Kasisto inside the Banking OS, no one is better positioned to lead the shift from conversation to resolution," Pleiter said.

Lance Berks, Chief Executive Officer of Kasisto, framed the transaction as part of a broader shift in the banking industry's use of AI.

"Agentic AI will reshape banking over the next decade. Together, Backbase and Kasisto represent the convergence of the AI-native banking OS and purpose-built agentic AI and financial services intelligence, setting a new standard for how banks and financial institutions compete and win," Berks said.