Gradient Labs⁠(opens in a new window) is built to handle this complexity. The London-based company is building AI agents that give every bank customer the experience of a dedicated account manager. Founded by a team that previously led AI and data efforts at Monzo, the company’s platform is built on OpenAI models and is now shifting production traffic onto GPT‑5.4 mini and nano.

“We’re seeing 500-millisecond latency with GPT‑5.4 mini and nano, which is exactly what we need for natural voice conversations,” says Danai Antoniou, Co-Founder and Chief Scientist at Gradient Labs. “We’re moving a significant portion of our workload over.”

In banking, customer interactions are governed by standard operating procedures (SOPs) that define what should happen at each step.

Each step follows a defined procedure, with decisions made in real time based on user input, context, running guardrails, and both customer and agent responses to ensure compliance.