Primitive launches AI agent system for banks & credit unions

Primitive has launched an AI agent operating system for financial services, designed for regulated financial institutions.

The Salt Lake City-based company was founded by banking and fintech executive Derek White and is launching with backing from Fin Capital and Pelion Venture Partners. It is also announcing a partnership with MX, which provides data and software services to more than 1,700 financial institutions.

Primitive is targeting banks and credit unions that want to move artificial intelligence projects from pilot stages into day-to-day operations while maintaining tighter oversight. Its system is intended to help institutions create, deploy and govern AI agents across enterprise workflows.

As part of the partnership, Primitive and MX are developing an AI-native Growth Agent for banks and credit unions. The planned product is intended to help institutions identify deposit opportunities in real time, run personalised campaigns and simplify processes such as direct deposit switching.

Primitive is entering a market where banks have shown growing interest in AI tools but remain cautious about risk, compliance and control. The company argues that financial firms need systems built for regulated environments rather than products designed for broader corporate use.

White said the company's approach centres on what it calls "Agent Capital" and "Return on Agent Capital", a framework for measuring the value created by AI agents inside an organisation. The aim is to give institutions a way to assess agent performance with a discipline similar to that applied to financial and human resources.

The platform has three main parts. Its Engine Room connects AI agents, including third-party agents, to enterprise systems without replacing those systems.

A second component, the Assembler, is intended to take a use case to a production-ready agent in 90 days. The third, known as the Control Tower, is designed to provide logging, tracing and independent validation of agent actions while also measuring performance.

Primitive is also launching with pre-built agent templates in areas such as commercial lending, human-in-the-loop operations, risk and compliance, deep research, and regulatory oversight. These templates are meant to provide institutions with a starting point for AI agent deployments within their own environments.

Governance focus

Governance is central to the company's message. Financial institutions have been slower than some other sectors to adopt autonomous AI systems because of concerns about auditability, accountability, and the impact of errors on customers and regulators.

"The Bank executives who have helped us shape Primitive all face a common, critical challenge: they know AI is the future, but they cannot risk the reputation or stability of their institution on systems which have been generically designed for all industries, as opposed to the stringent controls required in regulated environments. The challenge isn't access to AI - it's integrating, governing, and proving the return on it at enterprise scale. Having lived this problem from inside some of the world's largest financial institutions, we built Primitive to give leaders the control and clarity required to move AI from a pilot to a core business driver where agents execute and people lead," said Derek White, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Primitive.

MX framed the partnership as part of a shift from data analysis to automated action. Its existing position in the banking technology market gives Primitive access to a broad base of potential customers through a partner already used by many financial institutions.

"The future of banking is moving from passive insights to proactive, autonomous action, and that transition requires absolute trust. By partnering with Primitive, we are creating a new standard for accountable AI that turns data into a catalyst for growth. This allows financial institutions to move beyond simply observing data to deploying intelligent agents that execute on that data within rigorous, bank-grade guardrails. It isn't just about efficiency; it's about giving banks and credit unions the power to leverage enriched data as a strategic asset and fundamentally automate complex workflows and scale their impact without compromising on safety, transparency, or trust," said Ryan Caldwell, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, MX.

Investor backing

Primitive's launch also comes with support from investors focused on financial technology. It has raised seed funding from Fin Capital and Pelion Venture Partners, though it did not disclose the amount.

Chief Technology Officer Arun Shanmugavelu said the company was built around the need for AI systems in banking to be visible and testable at every step.

"AI in banking can't be a black box - it has to be controllable, observable, and auditable by design. At Primitive, governance isn't a layer you add later - it is the system. By bringing together control, creativity, and proof into a single system, we ensure every agent is not only powerful, but fully governed - where every decision is traceable, every action is controlled, and every outcome is provable," said Arun Shanmugavelu, Chief Technology Officer, Primitive.

Investors backing the company said demand is building for infrastructure that can help banks adopt AI more broadly without losing control over risk and compliance processes.

"Primitive is the B2B FinTech infrastructure layer the banking industry needs to cross the chasm to AI adoption and hire and deploy agents in a secure and scaled approach across an infinite set of use cases. Bank executives fundamentally understand the potential power of AI, now it is time to harness it and Primitive will lead the way," said Logan Allin, Founder and Managing Partner, Fin Capital.

"The combination of deep operator experience and a clear view of the governance gap positions Primitive to define this next phase of banking technology," said Hogge.