What is BankUnited's AI strategy?
BankUnited's AI strategy is internal-first and stated in small pieces. Its 2025 10-K, filed February 26, 2026, says 'our current use of AI is not material to our operations', yet its February 2026 investor presentation pledges to 'invest in digital onboarding, AI, and automation to accelerate deposit acquisition', and on January 21, 2026 CFO Jim Mackey put 'AI workflows' next to payment-system modernization among 2026 technology priorities. The deployed piece is SAVI, an employee assistant built on Anthropic's Claude 2 in Amazon Bedrock that answers questions from about 400 policy documents at a reported 95% accuracy; AWS says the bank then launched 'OpportunitiAI' to find more generative-AI uses. In the contact center, a BankUnited executive said in June 2025 the bank had 'leveraged their advanced AI', meaning Talkdesk's. Governance came next: an AI and Data Advisory Group since July 2025, regular AI reporting to the board's Risk Committee and director AI training in 2025, per the 2026 proxy. The approach goes back to former CTO Michael Lehmbeck, who said in 2024 there is no right or wrong approach to AI 'as long as it makes sense and has some correlation back to your strategy'. No AI leader or budget is named.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
Data as of Oct 16, 2026 · BankUnited profile updated Oct 13, 2026 · 19 sources cited on this page · 140 banks profiled on this site · Markdown
What has BankUnited said about AI and technology strategy?
In date order, from filings, calls, conference remarks and vendor releases that quote BankUnited staff.
| Item | What it says | Who | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digital transformation initiatives | Two strategic initiatives under the digital transformation goal: data transformation, to make data 'more readily available' to business lines and more personalized for customers, and API-led integration; the CTO 'leads the adoption and innovation of the cloud' | Michael Lehmbeck, then CTO | July 11, 2022[8] |
| AWS AI services | The bank uses AWS AI-related services including Bedrock and Lex | Michael Lehmbeck | November 21, 2023[9] |
| How to choose AI | 'I don't think there's necessarily a right or wrong [approach to AI], as long as it makes sense and has some correlation back to your strategy' | Michael Lehmbeck, at Bank Automation Summit U.S. 2024 | March 2024 (published April 15, 2024)[7] |
| First AI risk factor | Generative and agentic AI present opportunities and risks; 'our current use of AI is not material to our operations' | 2024 10-K | February 28, 2025[10] |
| Contact-center AI | 'We've leveraged their advanced AI to improve banking interactions'; Talkdesk's CXA platform called 'truly transformational' | Jeiner Morales, SVP and director of data analytics and business systems | June 11, 2025[5] |
| Vendor AI governance | Vendors use AI in the applications they supply; the bank and its vendors must 'have governance in place surrounding usage, data privacy, and other areas'; vendor claims about data use must be verified | Julio Jogaib, CIO | June 6, 2025[11] |
| 2026 priorities | 'technology modernization ... especially ... our payment systems and ... AI workflows'; a $3.8 million write-down of capitalized software after a technology-stack review | Jim Mackey, CFO (Q4 2025 call) | January 21, 2026[3][1] |
| Investor presentation | 'Invest in digital onboarding, AI, and automation to accelerate deposit acquisition'; operational account opening the top priority | BankUnited (8-K exhibit) | February 11, 2026[2] |
| 2025 10-K | Current AI use still 'not material'; AI and automated decision-making regulation added to strategic risks; wider AI adoption may make cyber incidents more frequent and effective | BankUnited | February 26, 2026[1] |
| Q1 2026 call | Two large technology projects, upgrades to the treasury platform and the payments platform; AI not discussed | Rajinder Singh, CEO | April 22, 2026[12] |
How does BankUnited govern AI?
From the 2025 and 2026 proxy statements and the 10-K.
| Body or control | What it does | Since |
|---|---|---|
| AI and Data Advisory Group | Business-line and technology staff supporting AI governance, enablement and data and AI risk management | July 2025[6] |
| Board Risk Committee | Receives regular management updates on AI models, initiatives and risk practices; chaired by lead independent director Douglas Pauls | Disclosed April 2026[6] |
| Audit Committee | Receives updates on AI initiatives within its remit | Disclosed April 2026[6] |
| Director education | AI listed among regular board education topics in 2025; directors received AI-focused training during 2025 | 2025[13][6] |
| OpportunitiAI | Initiative to identify further generative-AI use cases and align business divisions, after SAVI 'proved the technology' | Undated (AWS case study)[4] |
What has BankUnited not disclosed about AI?
No chief AI or chief data officer, AI budget, use-case count or savings figure is public. Lisa Shim, senior executive vice president of technology and innovation, fronts the SAVI case study, and Julio Jogaib has been CIO since 2016; the CTO who described the bank's AWS AI use, Michael Lehmbeck, left for AgFirst in May 2025 and no successor has been named in the sources reviewed.[4][14][15]
The SAVI case study is undated and does not say when SAVI launched or how many employees use it; the bank has not said whether SAVI is the branch-procedures chatbot Lehmbeck described in March 2024. The 2026 10-Qs and the full first-quarter 2026 call transcript contain no AI discussion.[4][16][17][18][12]
What does the BankUnited profile record on this topic?
The rows below are the entries of the BankUnited AI strategy profile that bear on this page, as of Oct 13, 2026; the profile holds the full record of 30 dated moves, 15 use cases and 35 sources.
| Use case | What the record shows | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpportunitiAI use-case programme | Per AWS's case study, an initiative rolled out to identify further generative-AI use cases and align business divisions. | Rolling out | [4] |
| AI use 'not material' in filings | The 10-K calls current AI use 'not material to our operations'; no AI vendor or budget named in filings. | Announced | [1] |
| AI workflows and digital onboarding investment | AI and automation to speed deposit acquisition; AI workflows in the 2026 technology budget. | Announced | [2][3] |
| AI risk factor | Flawed or biased data, opaque AI and machine-learning models, and AI in third-party vendors' products. | Announced | [1] |
| AI and Data Advisory Group | Set up in July 2025 from business-line and technology staff to support AI governance, enablement and data and AI risk management; management reports on AI models and initiatives to the board's Risk Committee, and the Audit Committee receives updates on AI initiatives within its remit. | In production | [6] |
| Board AI education | Directors received AI-focused training in 2025; the 2025 proxy already listed AI among regular board education topics, and shareholder feedback led the 2026 proxy to add disclosure on board oversight of AI. | In production | [13][6] |
| Date | Move | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 10, 2026 | Proxy discloses AI governance structure | The 2026 proxy says an AI and Data Advisory Group of business-line and technology staff was set up in July 2025, management updates the Risk Committee on AI models and initiatives, directors had AI training in 2025, and shareholders had asked for more disclosure of board oversight of AI. | [6] |
| Feb 26, 2026 | 10-K adds AI and automated decision-making to strategic risks | The 2025 report repeats that current AI use is not material, says wider AI adoption may make cyber incidents more frequent and effective, and says developments in AI regulation and automated decision-making could require substantial spending; the CISO reports to the Chief Risk Officer. | [1] |
| Feb 26, 2026 | 10-K: current AI use 'not material' | Risk factor on generative and agentic AI, opaque models and vendors' AI. | [1] |
| Jan 21, 2026 | Q4 2025 call: 'AI workflows' among 2026 investments | CFO Jim Mackey pairs AI workflows with payment-system modernisation. | [3] |
| Feb 28, 2025 | First AI risk factor in the 10-K | The 2024 annual report says generative and agentic AI present opportunities and risks, that 'our current use of AI is not material to our operations', that models may be opaque or rest on flawed data, and that third-party providers are expected to add AI features; the 2023 annual report has no AI discussion. | [10][19] |
| Nov 21, 2023 | Then-CTO says BankUnited uses AWS AI services | Chief technology officer Michael Lehmbeck told Bank Automation News that the bank uses Amazon Web Services' AI-related services, including Bedrock and Lex, ahead of an AI panel at Bank Automation Summit U.S. 2024. | [9] |
Does BankUnited have an AI strategy?
It has stated priorities rather than a published strategy. The February 2026 investor presentation commits to investing in digital onboarding, AI and automation to accelerate deposit acquisition, and the CFO listed AI workflows among 2026 technology priorities. In practice the bank has built SAVI, an internal generative-AI assistant, run an OpportunitiAI program to find more uses, and set up an AI and Data Advisory Group in July 2025.
Why does BankUnited call its AI use 'not material'?
Its 2024 and 2025 annual reports both say 'our current use of AI is not material to our operations'. That is a materiality judgment for securities disclosure, and it sits alongside real deployments: SAVI for staff, Talkdesk's AI tools in the contact center, and vendors' embedded AI that the CIO says the bank governs.
Which AI models does BankUnited use?
The only model named publicly is Anthropic's Claude 2, which runs BankUnited's SAVI assistant through Amazon Bedrock, according to AWS. The bank's former CTO said in 2023 that it used AWS AI services including Bedrock and Lex. Customer-service AI comes from Talkdesk, whose Autopilot and Copilot products the bank uses.
Who leads AI at BankUnited?
No dedicated AI executive is named. Lisa Shim, senior executive vice president of technology and innovation, is the executive quoted on SAVI; Julio Jogaib is CIO; Jeiner Morales, senior vice president and director of data analytics and business systems, is quoted on SAVI and Talkdesk. The board's Risk Committee, chaired by Douglas Pauls, receives AI updates.
What did BankUnited's CFO say about AI on the earnings call?
On the fourth-quarter 2025 call, January 21, 2026, CFO Jim Mackey said the bank is 'focusing on technology modernization', especially 'our payment systems and ... AI workflows'. The same call recorded a $3.8 million write-down of capitalized software after a review of the technology stack. AI did not come up on the first-quarter 2026 call.
- BankUnited, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2025
- BankUnited, Inc. investor presentation (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1)
- BankUnited (BKU) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
- BankUnited Enhances Customer and Employee Satisfaction for SMB Banking Using AWS (undated case study, retrieved 2026-09-24)
- Talkdesk shatters outdated customer experience paradigm with launch of Customer Experience Automation platform
- BankUnited, Inc. 2026 Proxy Statement (DEF 14A)
- 57 questions financial institutions should ask about AI
- BankUnited CTO Michael Lehmbeck joins Bank Automation Summit Fall
- BankUnited CTO to speak at Bank Automation Summit U.S. 2024
- BankUnited, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2024
- AI revolution: Navigating the promises and perils of a new era
- Earnings call transcript: BankUnited misses Q1 2026 EPS estimates
- BankUnited, Inc. 2025 Proxy Statement (DEF 14A)
- Citigroup IT Veteran to Become BankUnited's Chief Information Officer
- Movers and shakers: Michael Lehmbeck new CIO at AgFirst
- BankUnited deploys chatbot for internal searches
- BankUnited, Inc. Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for March 31, 2026
- BankUnited, Inc. Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for June 30, 2026
- BankUnited, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2023
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