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Lloyds Banking Group has revealed its profits have jumped by nearly a quarter, as its boss unveiled a new four-year plan that is set to drive another £2 billion of cost-cutting amid the use of AI and further digitalising the bank.

The banking group shared the new strategy which will come into effect from 2027 when the previous five-year plan under chief executive Charlie Nunn comes to an end.

It comes as its pre-tax profit came in at £4.3 billion for the six months to the end of June, up 23% on the same period last year, and higher than the £4.1 billion that most analysts were expecting.

This was driven by increased income and more controlled business costs, while customer lending and deposits increased over the period.

Lloyds said it was on track to have found more than £2 billion of gross cost savings between 2022 and 2026, and it was targeting a further £2 billion by 2030.

It hopes to achieve this by continuing a digital transformation and modernising the bank’s technology, and particularly from deploying artificial intelligence (AI) across its operations.

Since 2022, Mr Nunn has overseen significant changes including transforming digital banking and ramping up the use of AI, building up the bank’s wealth arm, and cutting hundreds of high street branches.

More recently, Lloyds decided to scrap the Halifax brand and change it to Lloyds.

Mr Nunn said: “We are successfully completing our 2022 to 2026 strategy, focusing on customer experience, pivoting the group to growth and laying the foundations for our exciting new strategy.

“We have strengthened our market leadership, built our digital and AI capabilities, and enhanced our cost and capital leadership, while remaining on track to deliver our 2026 financial targets.

“This ensures the group is well placed to launch our new strategy, Accelerate 2030, from a position of strength.”