The UK government has appointed two technology leaders at major banks as AI champions as it looks to boost the British economy by leveraging the technology.

Harriet Rees, group chief information officer at digital bank Starling, and Dr Rohit Dhawan, head of AI and advanced analytics at retail banking giant Lloyds Banking Group, assumed the positions on 20 January.

These unpaid positions will see both Rees and Dhawan report to economic secretary Lucy Rigby. They’ll be responsible for helping businesses use AI to become more productive, more competitive, more trustworthy and more resilient while providing customers with better outcomes and protecting them from the risks of AI.

As well as supporting British businesses in embracing AI technologies, the government said they’ll also play a vital role in promoting the UK’s financial services and technology industries globally with the aim of attracting inward investment.

Rees and Dhawan are both esteemed AI leaders in their own right and will be able to draw on their professional experiences to support UK firms keen to benefit from the AI boom.

As group CIO of Starling, Rees is responsible for managing the digital bank’s data, engineering, information security and product development teams and activities. AI is a key focus for the bank, with it last year announcing an AI scam detection tool.

In addition to her work at Starling, Rees is also Co-Chair of the Bank of England’s AI Taskforce and an AI Consortium member - helping transform Britain’s wider financial services sector using AI.

Dhawan of Lloyds Banking Group is the mastermind behind the bank’s growing adoption of AI, machine learning and data analytics as it looks to transform customer experiences and operations.

The bank has established teams within distinct areas like data science, behavioural science, machine learning engineering and AI ethics, all of which Dhawan manages day-to-day. Like Rees, he’s an AI Consortium member.

Harriet Rees, group chief information officer of Starling Bank, said: “I look forward to working with HM Treasury and the industry to create a world-class ecosystem in which innovation exceeds customers’ expectations and the transformative power of AI unlocks growth. In turn, this will reinforce the UK’s status as the world’s most technologically advanced financial centre.”

Dr Rohit Dhawan, head of AI and advanced analytics at Lloyds Banking Group, added: "AI has the potential to reshape the industry and at Lloyds Banking Group we are already seeing how thoughtful and responsible adoption of AI can transform customer experience and the way a large organisation operates.

“I look forward to working with HM Treasury, regulators and industry partners to accelerate the trusted and effective use of AI across financial services and support the UK’s ambition to remain a global leader in financial innovation.”

Their appointments as AI champions come as the technology continues to transform Britain’s financial services landscape. According to the government, the number of British firms in the industry that have adopted AI has increased to three-quarters from just over half in recent years.

Companies in the financial services and professional services sectors, in particular, have been highly supportive of AI as they look to improve customer support through chatbots, tackle fraud with automated cybersecurity tools, and help customers make more informed financial decisions using agentic AI.

Economic secretary to the Treasury Lucy Rigby KC MP said: “Harriet and Rohit bring deep, real-world experience of deploying AI safely at scale, and they will help turn rapid adoption into practical delivery – unlocking growth while keeping our financial system secure and resilient.”

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