Where AI meets impact: The RBI Group AI Lab story

Digital Reinvention
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21/05/2025 Perspective
profile picture of Vjekoslav Bonic

Vjekoslav Bonic

Raiffeisen Bank International

Head of Digital Channels and Conversational AI

In Austria and Slovakia, Raiffeisen Bank International launched the RBI Group AI Lab back in 2017. Vjekoslav Bonic, Head of Digital Channels and Conversational AI at Raiffeisen Bank International, introduces Qorus’ Boris Plantier to this initiative and its greatest success to date: MAIA — the Multilingual AI Assistant.


Tell us briefly about the AI Lab. What year was the lab created? In which city is it located? How many people work there?

The RBI Group AI Lab was founded in 2017, headquartered both in Bratislava, Slovakia as well as in Vienna, Austria, with the mission of driving applied AI across Raiffeisen Bank International and its network in Central and Eastern Europe. It began as a visionary initiative to explore the full potential of artificial intelligence in financial services — not just as a technology project, but as a strategic enabler.

At its peak, the AI Lab reached a team size of 60 professionals, covering roles in data science, engineering, product ownership, agile, transformation management and AI ethics. The Lab also worked closely with distributed data science and digital teams across the RBI network to bring innovation to scale across multiple countries.

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