TL;DR

Lloyds CEO Charlie Nunn has warned bankers to “reskill themselves” as AI transforms financial services. The bank disclosed that generative AI delivered a £50m boost in 2025, with this expected to double to over £100m in 2026 as it adopts agentic AI.

Concrete Financial Impact

Lloyds has provided a rare insight into AI’s actual financial contribution. The £50m benefit came from using AI to process complaints—now categorised in one second rather than five minutes—and halving the time spent on coding tasks.

“AI is a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and one the group is grasping for our customers,” Nunn said.

Embracing Agentic AI

The bank expects its AI financial benefit to double in 2026 as it embraces agentic AI—more autonomous systems that can proactively plan and execute tasks with minimal human oversight.

Nunn acknowledged the bank would “reduce some jobs in some areas” but played down Morgan Stanley’s forecast that 200,000 European bank jobs could be cut by 2030 due to AI and branch closures.

“The reality is we don’t quite know how to play out in the medium term,” he said. “It’s not that we’re trying to hide anything. But at this stage that’s not what we’re seeing specifically around generative AI.”

Reskilling as Priority

Banks will be hiring staff with very different skill sets going forward, Nunn said. “This is going to radically change how customers experience financial services,” meaning banks must “support colleagues to re-skill themselves.”

The warning comes as investment minister Jason Stockwood told the Financial Times that the UK could introduce universal basic income to protect workers disrupted by AI, though this isn’t official government policy.

Strong Financial Results

Lloyds reported a 12% rise in pre-tax profits to £6.7bn for 2025, launching a new £1.75bn share buyback programme. The UK’s largest mortgage lender has seen “strong volumes” and “good demand” for home loans.