NatWest announced the appointment of Dr. Maja Pantic on June 11 to continue finding new ways to counteract the rising threat of AI-related fraud.
As the new NatWest Chief AI Research Officer, Pantic’s role will see her meet customer needs, drive AI research when it pertains to trending fraud types, such as deepfakes, and support the UK bank’s partnership with OpenAI.
Maja brings AI research expertise and is currently serving as Professor of Affective and Behavioural Computing at Imperial College London, having previously been the Founding Research Director of Samsung AI Research Centre in Cambridge, and AI Scientific Research Director at Meta in London.
Pantic commented: “My career decisions have always been guided by two things: the opportunity to make an impact and the chance to learn.
“Joining a business like NatWest – given the vital role it plays in the lives of the customers and communities it serves – will not only give me the opportunity to work at the forefront of technological shifts in the banking industry at an immense scale, but to learn from leaders who instil a culture of learning and innovation throughout the bank.”
NatWest, understanding the evolving nature of AI, became the first UK bank to partner with OpenAI in March 2025 and leverage the company’s Generative AI capabilities to find new ways to support its customers.
Another element of the OpenAI partnership will see NatWest utilise GenAI tools, like Cora+, to automate the payment identification process in order to curb fraud attempts and ensure it is using modern-day solutions for rising threats like deepfakes.
By adding Pantic to the new role, NatWest and the Chief AI Research Officer will delve deeper into accelerating AI use cases to develop multimodal AI solutions involving voice and audio, combatting deepfake fraud, and AI-backed response controls, such as chatbots.
Pantic will be responsible for leading research into how the financial sector can anticipate shifts within AI as the technology is constantly evolving. She will also analyse future impacts of AI on the banking sector, as well as the use of AI for accelerating banking tools for customers and leaders in the industry.
Scott Marcar, CIO of NatWest Group, added: “It’s not the first time I’ve said that AI is helping us to be a simpler NatWest and to transform our customers’ experiences as we become even more of a trusted partner in the moments that matter most.
“Maja’s appointment is another important and exciting milestone; her unique skills and experience will help us adapt and meet customers’ changing needs faster, and more effectively, whilst complementing our team’s existing capabilities.”
The Deepfake problem
The partnership with OpenAI serves as a necessity for banks like NatWest which are relying on leading Generative AI platforms to leverage their expertise in the wake of an ever-evolving landscape.
Banks are also calling on Generative AI platforms due to the alarming surge of deepfakes, which can be used in fraud to act as a vehicle for authorised push payment (APP) fraud and other criminal activities.
On February 5 2025, the UK government issued a report that revealed up to eight million deepfakes will be shared this year, a sharp increase from the 500,000 shared in 2023.
The government stated mitigating the rise of illegal deepfakes is an “increasingly urgent priority” as customers’ voices, faces and sensitive information like card details can now be sophisticatedly automated in a matter of minutes.
There has already been a notorious deepfake fraud case this year. In January, a French woman was scammed out of $850,000 for believing deepfake images of Hollywood star Brad Pitt asked for money to treat a fake illness.
Cases such as this are a stark reminder deepfake fraud is rapidly growing and has governments and financial institutions on high alert over the damages it can cause.
