artificial intelligence
Fifth Third Bank is closing the gap with Silicon Valley by partnering with Brex to apply AI-native financing to $5.6 billion in commercial spend. This partnership replaces traditional friction with intelligent automation, enabling businesses to do away with spreadsheets and scale globally with confidence.
Fifth Third Bank is bridging the gap between traditional institutional banking and the speed of Silicon Valley, today announcing a major multi-year partnership with intelligent finance platform Brex.
The partnership will see the Cincinnati-based bank deploy “Brex Embedded,” a proprietary API-driven infrastructure, to power its commercial card offerings. The partnership essentially unlocks $5.6 billion in annual commercial card payment volume and aims to replace friction in traditional banking with AI-native automation. Brex technology will be implemented in all markets in which Fifth Third operates.
why is it important
The partnership represents a major shift in how major regional banks compete in the modern fintech environment. Rather than building our own spend management software from scratch, Fifth Third integrates best-in-class technology to instantly modernize services for our commercial clients.
- In the case of Brex, This agreement provides immediate access to a large portion of the legacy market.
- Regarding 5/3, Transform standard financial products into software-driven solutions that can automate complex workflows.
detail
Under the agreement, a “fifth third commercial card powered by Brex” will become the default solution for the bank's commercial banking customers.
This integration goes beyond just payments. Fifth Third customers will have access to Brex's extensive financial software stack, including:
- AI agent: Tools that automate end-to-end workflows to close books faster and reduce manual reviews.
- Expenditure management: Gain real-time visibility into your company's expenses and automatically reconcile receipts.
- Global scalability: Ability to issue corporate cards and manage cross-border spending.
what they are saying
Tim Spence, Chairman, CEO and President of Fifth Third, called this move essential to future growth.
“The future of business requires financial platforms that do more than just process payments – they need to drive growth.” spence Said. “By combining the strengths of leading banks with Brex's AI-driven innovation, we are creating intelligent solutions that simplify complexity, increase efficiency, and enable businesses to scale globally with confidence.”
“98% of businesses in our country still use traditional corporate cards,” he added. Pedro Franceschi, founder and CEO of Brex. “What started as a card for startups has become a full-stack intelligence platform for finance, now serving more than 300 publicly traded companies and tens of thousands of mid-sized companies.”
what's next
For decades, commercial finance has been defined by a constant friction: the wall between banking transactions and accounting data. This disconnect has left finance teams stuck in a cycle of manual reconciliation and reliance on rigid systems that struggle to scale as they grow.
Fifth Third is working to eliminate this “spreadsheet fatigue” by integrating Brex across its footprint. The introduction signals a broader shift in local banking, from static payment products to an interoperable, automated financial infrastructure serving customers across the country.
