Lloyds Banking Group has reported a jump in half-year pre-tax profit of 23% to £4.3bn, beating analyst expectations of £4.1bn. The growth was driven by higher income and tighter cost control, while customer lending and deposits also increased.
New four-year strategy unveiled
The banking group announced a new four-year strategy, Accelerate 2030, which will take effect from 2027, following the completion of the current five-year plan under chief executive Charlie Nunn. Lloyds said it is on track to achieve more than £2bn of gross cost savings between 2022 and 2026, and now targets a further £2bn by 2030.
AI and digital transformation
The additional savings are expected to come from continuing the bank’s digital transformation, modernising its technology, and deploying artificial intelligence (AI) across its operations. Since 2022, Mr Nunn has overseen changes including shifting to digital banking, increasing AI use, building the wealth arm, and cutting hundreds of high street branches. More recently, Lloyds decided to drop the Halifax brand and rebrand it as Lloyds.
CEO comments
Mr Nunn said: “We are successfully completing our 2022 to 2026 strategy, focusing on customer experience, pivoting the group to growth and laying the foundations for our exciting new strategy. We have strengthened our market leadership, built our digital and AI capabilities, and enhanced our cost and capital leadership, while remaining on track to deliver our 2026 financial targets. This ensures the group is well placed to launch our new strategy, Accelerate 2030, from a position of strength.”
