Lloyds Banking Group to Hire 300 AI Specialists While CEO Signals Future Job Reductions

Lloyds Banking Group has launched a recruitment drive for 300 technology specialists to work on artificial intelligence projects. The bank said the new hires will focus on the use and development of agentic AI by September. Agentic AI refers to autonomous models that can plan and execute tasks with minimal human oversight.

The 300 recruits will join a 1,000-strong AI team that also includes retrained Lloyds staff. They will deploy existing large language models such as Anthropic’s Claude and build on public models such as Google’s Gemini to the bank’s own specifications. The hiring drive will increase Lloyds’ headcount for now.

The bank did not rule out broader adoption of AI leading to job cuts in the future. Trystan Davies, group head of data and AI science at Lloyds, said: “AI will reshape how organisations are structured. ” Davies said the AI team would work on identifying and preventing scams and fraud, as well as internal uses such as searching HR documents.

One focus is making online banking more accessible, allowing customers to ask plain-language questions about spending and investment options. Generative AI delivered a £50m boost to Lloyds’ balance sheet last year. The bank expects a £100m benefit this year from its growing use of agentic AI models.

In January, chief executive Charlie Nunn said the bank would have to “reduce some jobs in some areas” owing to AI. Nunn is scheduled to announce a new multi-year strategy next month. Last month, Standard Chartered announced 7,000 job cuts, due in part to AI.

Its chief executive, Bill Winters, later apologised for describing the move as “replacing, in some cases, lower-value human capital”. A KPMG survey found that 93% of UK bank executives believed they could continue operating during a significant AI outage. Only 47% had conducted a single test around AI disruption, while 26% had conducted none.