Lloyds Growing its Fintech Presence

British banking and retail giant Lloyds has been an industry favorite for some time now, but it has come late to the financial technology game.

Finally, late last week, the bank announced a new position at the company called “head of fintech discovery”. Lloyds has recruited Han Veldwijk, who previously had a similar position at Dutch lending company Rabobank.

With the new position and hire, Lloyds hopes to launch a new set of fintech platforms and products within the company.

Veldwijk appears to be the perfect candidate for the job. While working for Rabobank, he helped develop online and digital solutions, with a particular focus on banking services for millennials. He also previously served as an executive at the London fintech accelerator Startupbootcamp FinTech.

Lloyds hopes to use Veldwijk to build a set of in-house platforms to utilize fintech for company growth and client accessibility. This move is part of Lloyds’ £1 billion investment package to bring its company further into the digital age.

Lloyds is one of the many major banks to recognize the import role that financial technology plays as a disruptor. Back in 2014, it underlined future steps it would take to further digitize its business and offer more fintech platforms to its clients.

In that year, the company’s budget outlined a strategic investment plan to build its fintech portfolio. Although the costs were high, Lloyds believes the future growth in fintech will be more than enough to cover the costs.