Lloyds Bank hires first AI director to integrate technology into its business

Lloyds Banking Group has hired its first head of artificial intelligence as it seeks to “further integrate AI” into its business.

The London-listed bank has named Rohit Dhawan, a former executive at Amazon’s cloud computing division Amazon Web Services, as its first group head of AI and analytics.

At AWS, Dhawan was head of data and AI strategy in the Asia Pacific region and worked to introduce AI into the company’s operational and customer-facing processes.

He holds a PhD in AI from the University of Sydney.

Lloyds has hired around 1,500 technology and data specialists so far this year, bringing the overall total to more than 4,000 over the past two and a half years.

Ranil Boteju, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Lloyds, said: Rohit’s appointment is a significant boost to the strategic development of AI technology and capabilities within Lloyds Banking Group, with his wealth of experience in delivering technology and change, at pace and scale.

“Rohit will work across the company to further integrate AI outcomes into business priorities, helping us consistently scale AI and deliver on our strategy.”

Dhawan added: “I look forward to advancing the Group’s ambitious AI strategy and maximising opportunities across the organisation as part of the Group’s purpose to help Britain thrive.”

Lloyds is one of several financial firms to have made significant hires in the area of ​​artificial intelligence this year. In March, Jeff McMillan was appointed head of artificial intelligence at investment banking giant Morgan Stanley.

In April, results showed Lloyds had plunged 28 per cent in the first three months of 2024.

Lower net interest income as a result of rising interest rates and higher operating costs pressured the group’s bottom line, limiting the bank to a statutory pre-tax profit of £1.63bn, in line with estimates.

Lloyds Banking Group shares fell 2.64 percent to 53.88 pence in early afternoon trading on Monday.