Leading through transformation: How AI is reshaping Intrum under Andrés Rubio’s leadership

When Andrés Rubio stepped into the role of CEO at Intrum in 2022, he saw more than just operational complexity; he saw an opportunity. As Europe’s largest credit management company, Intrum was dealing with a vast volume of manual processes, high operational costs, and a growing need to serve both clients and consumers more efficiently. 

But it was Rubio’s conviction that AI would fundamentally transform the industry — not incrementally, but structurally — that prompted one of his most defining decisions as a business leader: to acquire the UK-based startup Ophelos. 

“We’re not just adding a tool,” Rubio noted during the webinar. “This is a platform shift. AI is transformative — not incremental.”

Ophelos, the only AI-native debt resolution platform on the market at the time, presented a compelling proposition:

• lower operational costs

• higher customer satisfaction

• and a scalable solution for Intrum’s future. 

While early results showed a dramatic reduction in cost to collect, it also quickly became clear that rolling out AI across operations would lead to stronger margins and a much better experience for the customer and for clients. 

In short, a model built for the future.

Leading change in a legacy environment

In the webinar on 12 June 2025, moderated by Peter Kurzwelly, from AI Sweden, Andrés was transparent about the fact that the decision to integrate Ophelos into Intrum has not come without challenges. 

Change leadership, particularly in an organisation with 9,500 employees across 20 markets, demands more than strategic vision, it requires cultural transformation.

Everyone agrees on the value of AI at the top level. But resistance and concerns often shows further down in the organisation among those who have more detailed insights of the day-to-day business. Both important aspects. Implementation is the real challenge, not the concept of AI.

To overcome this, Intrum has driven a top-down strategy, combining education, incentives, and structured targets across markets with experts from both sides engaged in the transformation. An early learning that was clear after the first two markets were onboarded, was that to speed up the deployment of Ophelos, it needed to be treated as a standalone digital system rolled out alongside, not within, Intrum’s legacy architecture. 

This pragmatic approach recognised that true innovation must be shielded from the constraints of legacy systems, while still ensuring alignment with compliance and customer trust. This has enabled Intrum to accelerate onboarding of new markets, currently live in eight markets.

An evolving mindset — and business model

Coming from a background in investment banking and private equity, Rubio brings a platform-oriented mindset and a keen sense for scalable innovation.

I want us to become a technology company that does collections — not a collections company that leverages technology.

Under his leadership, Intrum has not only rolled out Ophelos across eight markets (soon to be ten), but has also launched internal AI squads to speed up deployment, developed new AI-driven products like voice agent Olivia, and reframed KPIs to reflect adoption and ROI.  

Today, Rubio spends over 20 per cent of his time as CEO on AI-related initiatives, a figure he believes should grow to 50 per cent as the business continues to transform.

Delivering value to clients and society

For Rubio, the true test of AI’s impact is twofold: tangible financial value and measurable societal outcomes. 

Intrum engages with over 25 million consumers (as per 31 Dec 2024) thus plays a critical role in helping people regain financial stability. Technology can accelerate that mission.

“Each year, Intrum helps nearly five million individuals become debt-free. With AI, we can help even more, at scale, and with compassion.

As Intrum continues to expand its AI capabilities, Rubio’s leadership journey offers a blueprint for legacy companies navigating technological disruption: be decisive, stay curious, communicate transparently, and always strive for impact.