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Lloyds expects AI-driven value creation to exceed £100m in 2026, doubling the contribution achieved in 2025.
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The strategy is shifting from generative AI toward agentic AI, with autonomous systems designed to take action at scale.
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Workforce enablement, not just technology deployment, is emerging as a core pillar of Lloyds’ AI economics.
From Generative AI to Agentic Execution
Lloyds Banking Group is accelerating its artificial intelligence strategy, forecasting more than £100 million in value creation during 2026, up from approximately £50 million delivered in 2025. The step change reflects a deliberate move away from early-stage generative AI use cases toward “agentic AI,” where autonomous systems are designed not only to generate insights but also to initiate actions across banking processes.
During 2025, Lloyds deployed more than 50 AI use cases across the Group. These initiatives were primarily focused on improving customer interactions and streamlining internal workflows, laying the foundation for broader automation. Management now sees 2026 as the year when AI shifts from experimentation and augmentation into scaled operational leverage.
Scaling AI Across Customer and Core Banking Functions
A central pillar of the 2026 roadmap is the expansion of agentic AI across customer-facing and internal functions. Lloyds plans to roll out its AI-powered financial assistant more broadly, evolving it from handling routine inquiries toward supporting more complex financial decisions involving savings, borrowing, and investments.
Ron van Kemenade, group chief operating officer, emphasized that AI is already delivering tangible benefits across the organisation. He highlighted that the next phase is about extending proven technologies at scale, allowing Lloyds to strengthen customer experience while extracting further efficiency from its operating model.
Tools Already Driving Measurable Efficiency
Several internal AI tools are already delivering operational impact. Lloyds’ internal search assistant, Athena, has significantly reduced information search times for tens of thousands of employees. Developer productivity has improved through the use of GitHub Copilot, while an AI-driven HR assistant is resolving the majority of employee queries at first contact. Together, these tools illustrate how incremental efficiency gains across large workforces can compound into material financial value.
Workforce Transformation as a Value Multiplier
To support this acceleration, Lloyds is launching a dedicated AI Academy aimed at upskilling its 67,000 employees. Rather than treating AI as a purely technical deployment, the bank is positioning workforce capability as a key multiplier of returns. Improving AI literacy across teams is intended to ensure responsible use while maximizing adoption and productivity gains.
Externally, this approach has already begun to shift perceptions. Lloyds recorded the strongest year-on-year improvement of any UK bank in the Evident AI Global Index, climbing 12 places, a signal that its strategy is gaining recognition beyond its financial disclosures.
Outlook
Lloyds’ ambition to more than double AI-derived value in 2026 underscores how major banks are reframing AI from a cost-saving tool into a driver of structural operating leverage. The transition toward agentic AI suggests management is betting that autonomy, not just insight, will define the next phase of efficiency and customer engagement in banking.
For a confidential discussion on how agentic AI adoption, operating leverage from automation, and long-term capital-return implications at systemically important banks like Lloyds can be assessed within a global portfolio allocation, contact our senior advisory team.
