London, April 22, 2026, 16:15 (BST)
Lloyds Banking Group is piloting an artificial-intelligence investment guidance tool through Scottish Widows, putting the UK lender into customer testing just as regulators sharpen their look at AI in finance. The bank is offering the tool to a small group as “guidance”, not personal advice, and Scottish Widows Chief Executive Chira Barua described it as a “satnav for investments.” Reuters
The timing matters. UK banks are trying to build more fee income from wealth management as the boost from higher lending margins fades. HSBC, Barclays and Lloyds have all moved deeper into the “mass affluent” market, a segment below private banking where digital tools could lower the cost of serving customers. Reuters
It also lands inside a live regulatory test. The Financial Conduct Authority said on Tuesday that Lloyds Banking Group/Scottish Widows, Barclays, UBS, Experian and four other firms had been chosen for its second AI Live Testing cohort, aimed at helping firms deploy AI with regulatory support and oversight.
The key line is between help and advice. “Targeted support” lets authorised banks, pension providers and other firms make suggestions to groups of consumers with common features; it is designed to sit between generic guidance and individual advice, which is tailored to one person and carries tougher rules. FCA
Lloyds shares were last shown by AJ Bell at 100.32p to sell and 100.36p to buy, down 0.28%, with prices delayed by at least 15 minutes. The page showed a previous close of 100.62p and volume of just over 100 million shares.
The pilot fits Lloyds’ wider AI push. The group said in January that generative AI delivered about 50 million pounds of value in 2025 and that it expected more than 100 million pounds of additional value in 2026, with more generative and agentic AI use cases planned. Agentic AI refers to systems that can take steps toward a goal with less human instruction.
“AI is already delivering real value,” Lloyds Chief Operating Officer Ron van Kemenade said in that January statement, adding that scaling the most useful technologies could support customers, operations and future financial benefits. Lloyds Banking Group
Competition will not be light. Nigel Moden, EMEIA banking and capital markets leader at EY, told Reuters in 2024 that demand for wealth services was growing but “competition is high”, while Christian Edelmann, managing partner for Europe at Oliver Wyman, warned: “There will likely be disappointments.” Reuters
But the model can cut both ways. The FCA’s Mills Review said AI in retail finance may bring risks including fraud, algorithmic bias and opaque decision-making, and that more autonomous systems could amplify existing vulnerabilities. For Lloyds, the commercial upside depends partly on proving that the tool helps customers without drifting into unsuitable or poorly explained recommendations.
Investors will soon get a broader update. Lloyds’ financial calendar sets its first-quarter interim management statement for April 29, with Chief Financial Officer William Chalmers due to present the results that morning.
Analyst consensus compiled by Lloyds on April 14 put first-quarter net income at 4.802 billion pounds, statutory pretax profit at 1.837 billion pounds and banking net interest margin at 3.15%. Net interest margin is the spread a bank earns from lending after funding costs, measured against interest-earning assets.
A separate overhang remains motor finance. Lloyds said on April 2 that it did not currently believe it needed to change its provision after FCA final rules on an industry redress scheme, but it listed uncertainties including response rates, operating costs, legal proceedings and complaints. That could still crowd out the AI story if the first-quarter statement changes the tone.
