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Digitization must not leave bank staff behind, says Lloyds' CEO Horta-Osório

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Digitization must not leave bank staff behind, says Lloyds' CEO Horta-Osório

Lloyds Banking Group PLC has increased its investment staff training to ensure employees are not left behind as the group forges ahead with digitization and the use of artificial intelligence, CEO António Horta-Osório said.

The bank is one of the top spenders on tech among its U.K. peer group, but he said it is essential that Lloyds does not abandon its staff in its quest for digital progress, a pillar of the bank's current strategic plan.

"People are our greatest sustainable competitive advantage," Horta-Osório said, speaking at the Sibos financial technology and infrastructure conference in London on Sept. 23.

Lloyds' three-year strategic plan, launched in February 2018, includes a £3 billion investment in initiatives aimed at further digitizing the bank and enhancing efficiency.

But it is essential that the bank develops its staff "rather than making vast investments in tech and leaving people behind," he said.

"We are focusing on boosting in-house capabilities rather than bringing in resource from outside," he said, adding that workers need to feel "invested-in."

Machines should 'free' people

"Machines should do the ordinary so that people are free to do the extraordinary," he said.

Lloyds is carrying out 4.4 million hours of staff training between 2018 and 2020, a 50% increase in training hours per employee, he said.

His comments come at a time when artificial intelligence and digitization are predicted to result in large scale job losses in the financial services industry. One report by IHS Markit earlier this year predicted that around 500,000 jobs in U.K. banking could be affected. Speaking about the U.K. economy more broadly, a senior Bank of England official warned last year that "large swathes" of the population could be left without jobs.

In addition to its focus on upskilling staff, Horta-Osório also highlighted improvements to working conditions Lloyds had undertaken, including doubling the duration of maternity leave and tripling of paternity leave and ongoing support for colleagues facing mental health difficulties, which are among the leading cause of sick leave for employers, he said. Lloyds Banking Group PLC

Colleagues can only "operate at their best and drive change" if they are properly supported through mental health problems, he said, adding that "kindness is an essential commodity."

Horta-Osório himself took a three-month period of leave from his role as CEO in 2011 for mental health reasons.