Lloyds Banking Group CEO Charlie Nunn unveiled a new four-year strategy, Accelerate 2030, targeting £2bn in cost savings through AI investment as part of a £13bn spending plan. The UK's largest high street bank reported £2.3bn in pre-tax profits for Q2, beating analyst expectations of £2.1bn, with revenues of £5bn. Shares rose 1.7% on the news.

The strategy builds on Nunn's 2022 pivot to diversify away from interest-rate-sensitive lending. Since then, Lloyds shares have surged nearly 130%. First-half results were boosted by non-interest income rising 12% to £1.7bn from pensions, insurance and investment fees. Net interest margin also improved, though impairment charges jumped to £322mn from £133mn a year earlier.

Under Accelerate 2030, Lloyds will deploy AI and tokenisation to cut mortgage processing "from weeks to days" and expand its corporate and institutional bank to rival HSBC's innovation banking unit. The bank plans significant balance sheet growth through expanded lending in the US and Europe, and will launch a smart wallet to compete with Apple Pay, Revolut and Monzo using technology from its cut-price acquisition of fintech Curve.