Lloyds Banking Group has announced a four-year research partnership with the University of Glasgow to explore how artificial intelligence can enhance software and data engineering.
The collaboration will focus on testing large-language-model-based coding tools, known as agentic AI, to determine how they can support engineers working in large-scale enterprise environments. The initiative is designed to generate real-world evidence on how AI can improve both the speed and quality of software development.
As part of the program, Lloyds will conduct quarterly experiments involving its software and data engineers in Bristol, Manchester, and Hyderabad. These teams will work alongside AI systems on various tasks, aiming to rigorously measure performance gains and identify best practices for integrating AI into engineering workflows.
The bank, which serves approximately 28 million customers as the UK’s largest digital bank, is continuing to invest heavily in digital transformation, including new software, services, and workforce training. Insights from the research program are expected to be gradually implemented across the organization, scaling successful AI-driven workflows across broader data and engineering teams.
The partnership also aims to bridge the gap between academic research and real-world industry applications. To support this, the University of Glasgow will create three dedicated roles tied to the initiative: a PhD position, a Master of Research role, and a postdoctoral research associate working directly with Lloyds’ engineering teams.
The research will be led on the university side by Dr Tim Storer and Dr Peggy Gregory from the School of Computing Science, while Lloyds’ contribution will be overseen by Dr Shane Montague, head of research engineering, with executive sponsorship from Professor Andrew McDonald.
Both organizations plan to publish ongoing research findings and develop best-practice frameworks that can be shared across the technology and financial services sectors, helping other organizations adopt AI effectively and responsibly at scale.
KEY QUOTES
“Agentic-driven software engineering is a fast-developing sector with the potential to enable human engineers to work more efficiently by automating some tasks and allowing them to focus their skills on higher-level work. However, there has been relatively little research in industry on how integrating agentic AI into software engineering practices can be done effectively in large-scale organisations. We’re delighted to be partnering with Lloyds Banking Group on this groundbreaking project. Together, we will enable the Group’s plans to increase their software development capacity, produce high-quality research for the benefit of all, and influence national policy and industry standards.”
Dr Tim Storer, School Of Computing Science, University Of Glasgow
“Lloyds Banking Group’s mission to Help Britain Prosper means leading innovation that genuinely improves how engineering gets done, with a focus on delivering enhanced digital services for our customers. We’re excited to partner with the University of Glasgow to gather rigorous, real-world evidence from day-to-day engineering work, so we can understand what really works and how agentic AI can be applied effectively and responsibly at scale.”
Dr Shane Montague, Head Of Research Engineering, Lloyds Banking Group
