Backbase Acquires Kasisto for Agentic Banking

Banking operating system provider Backbase has acquired banking/financial services-focused artificial intelligence (AI) firm Kasisto.

The deal, announced Tuesday (June 23), makes Kasisto’s team, agentic AI platform and financial services intelligence part of Backbase and its Banking OS.

“Most banks have deployed agentic AI in isolated pockets—agents that answer questions without resolving work, leaving intent fragmented across channels, contact centers, and operations,” the Dutch company said in a news release sent to PYMNTS.

“Closing that gap requires purpose-built banking intelligence, reasoning-native agents, and governance embedded from the ground up – not generic AI platforms,” the company added. “Together, Backbase and Kasisto deliver the only AI-native solution built for the full complexity of agentic banking in regulated financial services.”

The release added that the acquisition is part of Backbase’s goal of creating the “United Frontline,” an operating model where customers, employees, and AI agents function in tandem with shared context, governed authority and “the same source of customer truth.”

Jouk Pleiter, Backbase’s founder and CEO, said that purchasing Kasisto strengthens his company’s position as a partner for banks committed to 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,” he said. “With Kasisto inside the Banking OS, no one is better positioned to lead the shift from conversation to resolution.”

Writing about the role of agentic AI in banking last month, PYMNTS noted that the technology can help financial institutions employees in charge of investigating fraud cases, onboarding customers or handling servicing requests.

“Many of those activities require employees to gather information from several systems, apply established rules and move work between departments,” the report said. “Agentic AI promises to reduce that burden. But challenges, and ultimately liabilities, lie with delegation. Automation allows a bank to accelerate work. Delegation requires a bank to decide which responsibilities can be handed to software and under what conditions.”

Those sorts of questions are important at a moment when risk management for banks is becoming more demanding.

Research by PYMNTS Intelligence shows 46% of financial institutions report increasing sophistication in fraud schemes.

Close to half of the executives surveyed by PYMNTS Intelligence and Block cited regulatory pressures as a big challenge, while 41% cited pressures related to faster and more diverse payment systems. Meanwhile, 68% said they are spending more on fraud detection capabilities.