Lloyds Banking Group is betting on artificial intelligence to strip £2bn from its costs by 2030, the clearest sign yet that Britain’s biggest high-street lender sees automation as central to its future.
The target, unveiled alongside half-year results that showed pre-tax profit up 23%, lands just as Morgan Stanley warns European banks could shed a fifth of their jobs to AI.
The plan has a name and a number. Branded “Accelerate 2030,” it aims to push Lloyds’ cost-to-income ratio below 45% by the end of the decade, down from around 50% today, with AI doing much of the heavy lifting.
The savings are meant to compound an earlier round. Lloyds says it delivered £2bn of “growth cost savings” under its previous five-year plan, so Accelerate 2030 effectively doubles down on the same playbook, this time with automation at its centre.
Chief executive Charlie Nunn was candid about the human cost. AI is “going to impact work,” he said, adding that it will “require us to reskill people and hire new people” as roles change shape across the bank.
