Lloyds’ Burns on reshaping for client success

Often at the top of UK rankings for satisfaction according to their clients, Lloyds Banking Group has recently been named the Best Bank for Cash Management Product in the UK, according to the Euromoney Cash Management Survey 2024, and UK’s Best Bank for SMEs as part of Euromoney’s Awards for Excellence. Burns and his co-head Mansour Davarian start from a position of strength, looking forward to building a client-centric organisation, bringing innovative solutions to respond to clients’ needs.

“Historically, our transaction banking teams operated across different parts of the business,” Burns acknowledges. This structure often created inefficiencies when addressing client challenges, given that their needs were vast, touching multiple products and teams, from optimising supply chains, improving working capital, to managing cash flow.

“Clients don’t talk to us about individual products like payments or trade; they ask how we can help solve their challenges,” Burns says. By combining expertise across multiple products, including payments, trade invoice finance and cards, the new structure focuses on delivering seamless, end-to-end solutions. “We’re shifting from talking about products to addressing our clients’ needs,” he adds.

Recognising the need for a more cohesive approach, Lloyds brought these teams together under the newly formed Transaction Banking Solutions team. The co-head, bringing two different sets of skills, are ready to start a new era at Lloyds.

This integration has already begun to change the nature of client conversations. “Having different teams in the room enables us to better address key client challenges,” Burns notes. The aim is to deepen expertise within specialised teams while fostering collaboration across the broader organisation. “We want to keep specialisation paramount for our clients but also make it seamless and client focused,” he says.

Central to this transformation is a unified culture anchored in a common goal: putting clients at the heart of everything. “A shared objective makes decision-making more straightforward,” Burns says. To achieve this, Lloyds is investing heavily in upskilling employees.

“We’re adopting a T-shaped approach,” Burns explains. Specialists retain deep expertise in their fields but gain a broader understanding of other areas to ensure seamless transitions and conversations with clients. “We’re also bringing in new talent from leading tech and analytics firms to foster a mindset of innovation across teams,” he adds.

Lloyds is midway through a £4 billion digital transformation journey aimed at modernising infrastructure and delivering market-leading propositions. “We’re focused on both the now and the future,” Burns says.

One example is GEM, a payments platform designed for corporate and institutional clients. “Built on modern infrastructure, GEM offers a customisable, omni-channel experience,” Burns explains. The platform supports APIs and is prepared for future regulatory changes such as ISO 20022. “Since its launch, GEM has been a resounding success.”

Looking ahead, Lloyds is exploring technologies such as tokenisation, distributed ledger technology (DLT) and generative AI. “Clients don’t ask for tokenisation; they ask for faster access to trade instruments or cash,” Burns notes. The focus is on matching these needs with innovative solutions.

Burns identifies real-time cross-border payments as a major industry challenge. “The client need is simple: move money instantly from A to B, but achieving this across different geographies and regulatory environments is highly complex,” he explains.

Regulation also plays a pivotal role. Lloyds is actively involved in industry initiatives, including Swift’s global board and the Bank of England’s efforts to implement ISO 20022. “Being a key voice ensures we’re at the forefront of industry changes,” Burns says.

Lloyds is leveraging its position as a UK-focused bank to drive broader societal impact. One example is the sustainability referenced deposit, a term deposit matched to loans supporting energy transition and social housing. “Sustainability considerations are becoming central to client discussions,” Burns notes. “In RFPs, ESG goals often carry significant weight.”

The bank is also enhancing financial inclusion through its transactional FX capabilities, enabling global pension payments and facilitating the movement of goods in international trade. “We’re not just simplifying payments; we’re improving client journeys and supporting global commerce,” Burns says.

Burns emphasises the importance of collaboration with fintechs. “We see fintechs as enablers, not threats,” he says. Lloyds follows a ‘buy, build, partner’ model to evaluate new developments.

One standout example is the bank’s commercial and equity partnership with fintech firm CoBa, which has built a platform to address clients’ FX risk-management needs. “Clients wanted an integrated solution that pulls data directly from accounting platforms,” Burns explains.

The platform aggregates this data and produces cashflow forecasting, sensitivity analysis to FX market moves and automates FX hedging – thereby reducing FX volatility risks for the client. “We took a client-centric approach, and now over 250 clients are using the platform.”

As client needs evolve, Lloyds is committed to responding to these needs in a coherent way, bringing innovation at the forefront of their offering. “The role of the bank is changing,” Burns reflects. “Clients want data, technology, regulatory expertise and strategic consultation.

“It’s about delivering value today while preparing for the challenges of tomorrow,” Burns highlights.