Lloyds Banking Group will train all 67,000 of its employees how to use artificial intelligence (AI) this year.
The UK bank has launched an AI Academy, with the aim of reaching its target of all staff being AI literate by the end of 2026.
The bank said staff will be given interactive training modules, short courses, articles, podcasts and opportunities for community learning. It will kick off with every member of staff completing a module on responsible, safe and ethical AI use.
Lloyds wants its staff to be able to use AI in their everyday roles. “Scaling AI is about getting real use cases into production so we can simplify processes for colleagues and deliver more personalised services for customers,” said Ron van Kemenade, group chief operating officer at the banking group. “By investing in the skills of our people, we can do this responsibly and at pace, improving service today and building the foundations to scale new innovations in the future.”
The bank said in a statement: “The ambition is that by the end of 2026, 100% of colleagues at Lloyds Banking Group will be AI literate: confident, capable, and responsible users of AI.”
Last March, Lloyds announced AI training for over 200 of its most senior staff to ensure the company gets the most out of the technology. Participants received training in an 80-hour programme, known as Leading with AI, delivered by Cambridge Spark alongside experts from Cambridge University. The programme focused on areas including identifying transformational opportunities for AI and spearheading its implementation.
Scaling AI is about getting real use cases into production so we can simplify processes for colleagues and deliver more personalised services for customers
Ron van Kemenade, Lloyds Banking Group
The Spanish bank is accelerating its use of AI after the technology helped it make more than €200m in cost savings last year.
Europe’s banks, such as Lloyds and Santander, need to step up their AI training if they are to keep pace with US rivals.
A 2025 report from Forrester found that more firms in the US than in Europe provide regular AI training to their employees. The research also showed that many decision-makers wrongly assume their organisation has offered staff formal AI training. In other cases, AI training might not be mandatory or not very effective.
“If you ask other employees whether they’ve received formal AI training, the response is 52% in the US and only 39% in Europe,” the Forrester report stated.
The European employees are falling behind US workers on AI skills report recommended using a blend of different learning techniques to offer the best path toward AI competencies.
“By layering formal learning – in classrooms and online – with social learning, enabling peer-to-peer connections, and empowering on-the-job experiences based on learning by doing, employees are provided with a manageable path toward AI proficiency,” the report stated.
It suggested using 10% formal learning, 20% social learning and 70% on-the-job experiences. “The key is to weave these different approaches to learning into an intertwined ‘learning fabric’,” the report noted.
