Lloyds Banking Group and University of Glasgow launch study into agentic AI for engineering

Lloyds Banking Group and the University of Glasgow have launched a major research collaboration to examine how agentic AI could reshape software and data engineering practices.

The four-year programme will focus on large language model-driven coding tools—often described as agentic AIs—and their potential to support engineers in delivering higher-quality work at greater speed. The initiative reflects a broader push to understand how these systems perform in real-world, enterprise-scale environments.

Engineering teams across Bristol, Manchester and Hyderabad will take part in structured quarterly trials. In each phase, engineers will work alongside agentic AI systems on different types of tasks, enabling researchers to assess measurable impacts on productivity, delivery speed and output quality.

As insights develop, Lloyds Banking Group intends to expand successful applications across its data teams, with a longer-term objective of integrating agentic AI across all software and data engineering functions.

The project forms part of Lloyds’ wider digital strategy. As the UK’s largest digital bank, it continues to invest in new technologies, platforms and workforce capabilities to better serve its 28 million customers. The partnership will also support academic development, funding a PhD, a Master of Research role and a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Glasgow.

The university’s role

The university’s work will be led by Dr Tim Storer of the School of Computing Science, alongside Dr Peggy Gregory. Dr Storer said: “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.

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“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.”

Lloyds Banking Group’s role

via Wikimedia Commons

On the industry side, the programme will be led by Dr Shane Montague, Head of Research Engineering at Lloyds Banking Group, with executive sponsorship from Professor Andrew McDonald, Technology Platform Lead for Enterprise Data Provisioning.

Dr Montague said: “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.”

The collaboration will also produce a series of research papers and best-practice frameworks, aimed at helping organisations of all sizes adopt AI more effectively in their software and data development processes.

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Featured image via Wikimedia Commons