AHEAD OF THE GAME

For a company with a history that stretches back more than three centuries, Lloyds Banking Group is firmly focused on forging a future built on digital capabilities as well as traditional services. The group includes Lloyds Bank (252 years old), Bank of Scotland (which was founded in 1695), Halifax (which was founded in 1853) and the 200-year-old Scottish Widows.

“Innovation has always been fundamental to how we have evolved and continue to meet the ever-changing ways that our customers want to be served,” says Saket Jasoria, Head of Digital Strategy & Development, Group Digital. “We are committed to continue the journey in the new digital world.”

A digital leader

Lloyds Banking Group is already the largest provider of digital banking products in the UK. It has more than 11 million active digital customers and six million active mobile customers. In 2015 there were more than 1.6 billion log-ins, and its app was top rated in the financial services industry.

Over the past three years, the group has invested £1 billion to ensure digital technology plays a greater role in how the group meets the needs of customers and the wider communities in which it operates. The group is investing significantly in its propositions and capabilities, with digital playing a fundamental role in making key customer journeys even easier.

The aim of the group’s digital strategy is to ensure that key financial decisions – such as taking out a mortgage, buying life insurance or even opening a bank account for personal and commercial customers – become quicker and easier to do. “The aim is to simplify the customer experience to ensure needs are met quickly and efficiently,” says Jasoria. “This requires fundamental redesign of the journeys we take our customers through to meet their needs.”

The pace of innovation in personal and commercial banking is clearly accelerating, and Lloyds Banking Group takes a balanced approach to change. One particular focus is on emerging financial technology or “fintech”, which many in the banking industry see as competitors. “While fintechs do have the potential to disrupt traditional models, incumbent banks can collaborate with or learn from them,” says Jasoria.

The People business

The digital age offers a unique opportunity for this generation to challenge the traditional business models and create value through new ways of working. “While most people believe digital is all about technology, I believe it’s more fundamentally about people,” says Jasoria. “Understanding customers, thinking how their needs can be met in the simplest manner and shaping the business to deliver those needs is all about people.”

It’s why Lloyds Banking Group is looking for such people with required business skills and also the appropriate mindset to learn and play the role of positive agitator to the industry. The group’s £1 billion investment in digital offers plenty of opportunities for graduates to join its existing 75,000-strong workforce to be change agents, operating as trailblazers and pathfinders.

“Having a sense of financial business value drivers is critical,” says Jasoria. “Our people also need to see technology as a dimension of business rather than a specialist skill. Everyone needs to be abreast of the new business opportunities that technology can drive.” New recruits can play a role in transforming the company. They will be well placed to help the group meet its two missions of being “The Best Bank for Customers” and of “Helping Britain Prosper”. “The opportunities are huge,” says Jasoria, “and the timing could not be better.”