Lloyds Banking Group (LYG.US) is testing its newly developed AI-powered financial assistant with thousands of employees as part of an internal trial. The tool is designed to help customers manage spending, savings, and investments.

The UK-based bank stated that the assistant will launch next year, initially offering financial guidance services before gradually expanding to cover the bank’s full product range. For example, using "agentic AI," users can discuss payment-related matters with the assistant, which will then break down requests, plan, and execute transactions. Lloyds noted that the assistant will redirect customers to human agents when necessary.

So far, around 7,000 Lloyds employees have conducted 12,000 tests on the AI assistant. Ranil Boteju, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at Lloyds, emphasized that the tool has "rigorous" safeguards to ensure interactions remain "secure, explainable, and regulated."

Earlier reports revealed that Lloyds has been in regular discussions with the Financial Conduct Authority regarding the safe deployment of AI, including potential applications like financial guidance. The new tool will leverage bank data to provide personalized assistance but will not offer regulated financial advice.

Banks have been among the most proactive adopters of AI, aiming to streamline operations, cut costs, and potentially replace thousands of jobs. Many customers already use AI in their financial lives—a Lloyds survey found that 56% of adults have used AI in some form to manage their finances over the past year.

Lloyds has spent years overhauling its technology infrastructure, including evaluating thousands of UK-based tech staff and reassigning or dismissing some employees. The bank currently runs 200 AI use cases, including generative AI solutions like Athena, which supports 30,000 customer-facing employees, and machine learning models that simplify tasks like mortgage applications.