Absa, Salesforce Expand Strategic Collaboration, Solidifying AI Leadership In Banking Across Africa

Absa has announced a significant renewal of its long-standing strategic collaboration  with Salesforce, through a new three-year agreement that will support the bank’s growing focus on artificial intelligence, automation, and real-time data insights to create more personalised and efficient banking experiences for customers.

This agreement extends across various business divisions with broader deployment planned across the Group’s African Regions. The renewed agreement reinforces Absa’s position as the leader in the continent in digital innovation supported by its pioneering use of generative AI.

Over the next three years, the collaboration will focus on several key technology capabilities across the Group which include Agentforce, Data Cloud, and Loyalty Cloud.

As part of the extended collaboration, Absa has solidified its trailblazing status as the first bank in Africa to deploy Salesforce Agentforce. This cutting-edge capability went live with “Abby” an intelligent AI chat agent now operating on the Absa Banking App and website, enabling fast, intuitive access to information without the need to navigate extensive content. Additionally, on the Absa Business Banking website, Abby can support customers in all 11 official South African languages.

“This renewed collaboration speaks to Absa’s continued focus on customer-centric, data-driven transformation and enables us to deliver on our promise of bringing possibilities to life for our customers across Africa,” said Thato Matolong, Chief Information Officer for Personal & Private Banking at Absa Group.

Since 2023 Absa has been a regular presenter at Salesforce Dreamforce, one of the world’s largest software conferences, both at the flagship event in San Francisco USA, and in South Africa. These appearances showcase the bank’s ongoing innovation journey from AI integration to customer experience transformation.

“Being a regular presenter at global Dreamforce events shows that Absa is recognised on the world stage,” Matolong noted.

Locally, it demonstrates undeniable leadership within the South African market. This combination translates to global credibility and local leadership.

Absa’s pioneering innovation has been recognised through multiple industry accolades, including the AI Trailblazer Award and the Connected Data Award at the Salesforce South Africa Customer Awards.

Linda Saunders, Country Manager & Snr. Director Solution Engineering Africa Salesforce, said: “Absa exemplifies what it means to be a truly AI-driven enterprise, and we are proud to deepen ourcollaboration as they continue to lead the way in digital banking across Africa.

Seeing Agentforce come to life through ‘Abby’ and serving customers in all 11 official South African languages is a powerful demonstration of how AI can be localised to create real impact. We look forward to supporting Absa’s ambitions as they scale innovation across the continent.”

The Salesforce platform is now deeply embedded within Absa’s daily operations, with approximately 15 000 colleagues actively using Salesforce across all business clusters, covering both frontline teams and back-office operations. This widespread adoption demonstrates the platform’s role as an enterprise tool and not just a niche application.

As committed in our Employee Value Proposition (EVP), Absa continues to strongly invest in building its workforce; to date colleagues have achieved 495 active Salesforce certifications, a number that continues to grow as the organisation accelerates its AI-enabled skill development.

By expanding the Salesforce collaboration, Absa aims to further leverage AI and data connectivity to deliver personalised, efficient banking services across the continent.