TL;DR

HM Treasury has appointed Harriet Rees (Starling Bank CIO) and Dr Rohit Dhawan (Lloyds Banking Group AI Head) as AI Champions for financial services. They will report directly to the Economic Secretary, focusing on accelerating safe AI adoption whilst maintaining consumer protection.

New Champions to Drive AI Adoption

The UK government has appointed two leading industry figures to spearhead the rollout of artificial intelligence in financial services. Harriet Rees from Starling Bank and Dr Rohit Dhawan from Lloyds Banking Group will help turn rapid AI adoption into practical, safe delivery across the sector.

With around three-quarters of UK financial firms now deploying AI—up sharply from just over half in recent years—independent analysis suggests AI could add tens of billions of pounds to the financial and professional services sector by 2030.

The Champions’ Mandate

Reporting directly to Economic Secretary Lucy Rigby, the Champions will focus on:

  • Helping firms seize AI opportunities with confidence
  • Exploring ways to accelerate safe adoption at scale
  • Identifying where innovation can move faster
  • Tackling barriers holding firms back
  • Maintaining trust, resilience and strong consumer protection

Economic Secretary Lucy Rigby KC MP stated: “Harriet and Rohit bring deep, real-world experience of deploying AI safely at scale, and they will help turn rapid adoption into practical delivery—unlocking growth while keeping our financial system secure and resilient.”

Industry Expertise

Harriet Rees leads data, engineering, information security and product development at Starling Bank. She co-chairs the Bank of England’s AI Taskforce and is a member of the AI Consortium.

Dr Rohit Dhawan is responsible for shaping Lloyds Banking Group’s AI strategy and roadmap. He leads multidisciplinary teams across data science, behavioural science, machine learning engineering and AI ethics.

Looking Forward

These appointments signal the government’s commitment to positioning the UK as a global leader in AI-powered financial services. For UK SMEs, this creates potential opportunities as larger financial institutions adopt AI more rapidly—both as potential customers for AI solutions and as beneficiaries of improved AI-driven financial products and services.

Share this article