Lloyds to back every customer interaction with AI by 2030

Lloyds Banking Group announced that artificial intelligence will support every customer interaction by 2030. The bank expects to generate more than £100m from generative and agentic AI in 2026 and aims to train all 67,000 employees through an AI Academy this year.

Chief executive Charlie Nunn outlined the Accelerate 2030 strategy alongside the bank’s first-half 2026 results. Lloyds plans to cut a further £2bn in costs over the next four years, on top of roughly £2bn saved in the prior four-year period. Profits rose 23% to £4.2bn in H1 2026.

AI is already being used beyond basic customer support. An AI investment-advice feature in the Scottish Widows app will be rolled out to the group’s retail banking app to provide personalised guidance and to help the bank reach one million new smaller investors.

About half of current AI spending is focused on productivity, efficiency and risk management; the remainder is aimed at growing revenue.

The bank is expanding internal skills to deliver the plan. In January Lloyds launched an AI Academy to train all 67,000 employees this year. Staff have completed 400,000 AI courses since January.

Lloyds also plans to create 300 agentic AI roles and will recruit from both the existing workforce and external hires. Job types include data and AI scientists, engineers, responsible AI specialists and AI product managers.

Charlie Nunn stated, “Every part of the group has a clear AI-enabled strategy that will further enhance our ability to differentiate our services, grow and deliver improved productivity. By 2030, we expect AI-powered tools will support every customer interaction and all of our colleagues.” He added that the bank is on course to deliver more than £100m of value from generative and agentic AI in 2026 and that Lloyds’ scale provides a strong starting position to realise those gains.

Lloyds’ Financial Institutions Sentiment Survey for 2025 found 59% of surveyed firms reported AI-driven productivity gains in the previous 12 months, up from 32% in 2024. An industry benchmarking report last year noted AI-related roles are among the fastest-growing hires at major banks and suggested such positions could become relatively secure within the changing job market.

The Accelerate 2030 plan connects AI deployment with cost reduction targets, revenue growth and customer product rollouts. In the near term the bank will focus on generating measurable value from generative and agentic AI while equipping staff to operate and oversee those systems.