Lloyds Banking Group to hire 300 tech experts to work on AI

Lloyds Banking Group is recruiting 300 technology experts to accelerate its deployment of agentic artificial intelligence, weeks before chief executive Charlie Nunn outlines a new multi-year strategy for the 261-year-old lender [1]. The new hires, expected to be in place by September, will join an existing 1,000-strong AI team composed of both new recruits and retrained Lloyds staff [1]. They will focus on autonomous AI models that can plan and execute tasks with minimal human oversight, including projects to identify and prevent fraud, and to make online banking more personalised [1]. Trystan Davies, group head of data and AI science, said the technology would reshape organisational structures and change how people work, adding that the bank is investing in colleague training through the transition [1]. The recruitment push follows financial gains already attributed to the programme. Generative AI delivered a £50m boost to the balance sheet last year, and the group expects a £100m benefit this year from its growing use of agentic AI models [1]. The new cohort will deploy existing large language models such as Anthropic’s Claude and build on public models including Google’s Gemini to the bank’s own specifications [1]. While the immediate effect is an increase in headcount, Lloyds has not ruled out future job reductions linked to broader AI adoption [1]. In January, Nunn acknowledged the bank would need to “reduce some jobs in some areas” because of AI [1]. Last month, Standard Chartered announced 7,000 job cuts, partly driven by AI, and its chief executive Bill Winters later apologised for describing the move as replacing “lower-value human capital” [1]. Industry research suggests that UK banks are adopting AI faster than they are preparing for system failures. A KPMG financial services sentiment survey found that while 93% of UK bank executives believed they could continue operating during a significant AI outage, only 47% had carried out a single test around AI disruption and 26% had conducted none [1]. Rob Smith, UK head of regulatory and risk advisory at KPMG UK, said the optimism could indicate firms have invested in model validation and contingency planning, that their use of AI remains relatively simplistic, or that they do not yet fully grasp their exposure [1]. Smith added that without regular, robust testing, firms cannot prove their resilience to regulators, customers and stakeholders [1].