Lloyds Banking Group Appoints Rohit Dhawan as Group Director of AI and Advanced Analytics

(EMEA) Lloyds Banking Group has appointed Rohit Dhawan as Director of AI and Advanced Analytics, reporting to Ranil Boteju, the Group’s Chief Data and Analytics Officer. In this newly created position, Dhawan will head the Group’s AI Centre of Excellence, which unites experts in Data Science, Behavioral Science, ML Engineering, Advanced Analytics, and AI Ethics.

Dhawan’s responsibilities include shaping the AI, ML, and advanced analytics strategy, promoting technical excellence, and driving the adoption of AI-enabled products and services to enhance customer experiences for the Group’s 27 million customers.

Under Dhawan’s leadership, the AI Centre of Excellence will focus on attracting and retaining top AI and Ethics talent in the UK, adding to its team of industry-recognized experts, including over 30 PhDs in key disciplines. Lloyds Banking Group will also continue nurturing early careers in AI and Data Science through its data science graduate program, one of the largest in the UK.

Dhawan, an industry veteran with a PhD in AI from the University of Sydney, joins from Amazon Web Services, where he was the Head of Data and AI Strategy for the APAC region. In this role, he led strategic developments, including integrating AI into customer and operational processes and establishing a multi-disciplinary data and AI function.

“I’m excited to join Lloyds Banking Group and work for an organization undergoing a significant transformation in financial services. I look forward to advancing the Group’s ambitious AI strategy and leveraging data and technology to meet evolving customer needs. It’s a privilege to be part of the Group’s mission to help Britain prosper,” Dhawan said.

“I’m delighted to welcome Rohit Dhawan as our new Director of AI and Advanced Analytics. Rohit’s appointment significantly boosts our AI technology and capabilities strategy. His extensive experience in delivering technology and change at scale will help us integrate AI outcomes into business priorities, scale AI consistently, and achieve our strategic goals,” Boteju says.

This year, Lloyds Banking Group has recruited 1,500 technology and data specialists, bringing the total to over 4,000 in the past two and a half years. Integrating AI and analytics across the Group aims to enhance the overall customer experience. Currently, the Group is trialing over 50 use cases, including increasing support speed, improving chatbot tools, and detecting early signs of fraud.