Danske Bank extends AWS deal to develop AI customer services

Danske Bank has extended its contract with Amazon Web Services to focus on generative AI customer services and modernising its IT estate. The expanded agreement builds on work that began in 2024 under the bank’s Forward ’28 strategy.

The first phase created a cloud and data foundation and a migration platform that has been used to move legacy applications and data to AWS. The new phase will concentrate on co-developing generative AI projects and improving how technology is developed and delivered across the bank.

Under the renewed agreement, Danske will deploy Amazon Bedrock and Bedrock AgentCore to run generative AI applications. Bedrock provides access to multiple foundation models, tools for rapid application development, enterprise data protections and a managed platform designed to scale from experimentation to production.

The bank will also use AWS engineering resources to accelerate delivery across customer journeys and to modernise core systems. Danske described the arrangement as a co-innovation partnership rather than a standard supplier contract and said it will combine the bank’s domain knowledge with AWS cloud-native tools while meeting regulatory and data protection requirements.

Frans Woelders, chief operating officer at Danske Bank, stated: “We are already seeing the benefits in how we develop the products and services our customers want, and I expect that value to grow further.” Tanuja Randery, managing director for EMEA at AWS, noted that the first phase focused on building the cloud and data base to support Danske’s ambitions and that Bedrock will provide access to hundreds of AI models and enterprise-grade controls.

The bank’s announcement referenced wider industry trends. A 2025 industry survey reported that 59% of financial firms recorded AI-driven productivity gains in the past 12 months, up from 32% the year before. A consultancy report cited in the announcement estimated AI could deliver up to 20% in operational savings but warned that banks will need to apply AI to customer-facing services as well as back-office automation to sustain margins.

Other financial services firms have also renewed or expanded cloud partnerships to access generative AI tools. Danske said the new agreement is intended to help scale AI initiatives from pilots to production systems while maintaining enterprise controls and compliance.