Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has appointed Ranil Boteju as its first Chief AI Officer, effective early 2026, after serving as group chief data and analytics officer at Lloyds Banking Group in London.

Boteju joined Lloyds in 2021, with responsibilities including overseeing the bank's strategy on AI, data and machine learning.

In his role, he led a team of over 2,000 people, expanding AI-based tools and customer products to deliver over 50 generative AI initiatives that have moved Lloyds up 12 places in the Evident AI Index 2025 ranking.

Commenting on his departure from Lloyds, Boteju said: I’ve really enjoyed leading the Data and AI transformation at over the past four years and will continue to stay very focussed on my talented LBG team and the Agentic AI rollout until I leave.”

Prior to joining Lloyds in 2021, Ranil held senior roles at Standard Chartered and HSBC in Singapore and Hong Kong respectively.

As global head of data and analytics at HSBC, where he worked for nearly 10 years, his responsibilities included delivering machine learning and data science services, cloud platforms, intelligent automation and robotics, fraud analytics and real-time personalisation.

A former employee of Commonwealth Bank, Ranil returns to Australia after 15 years abroad.

He previously worked for the company from 2007 to 2010 as general manager, where he was responsible for customer analysis and modelling.

CBA stated that the new appointment reflects the bank's continued focus on developing responsible, customer-focused artificial intelligence.

Commenting on the appointment, Matt Comyn, chief executive at CBA said: “As we scale to deliver even greater value from AI for our customers and our people, Ranil’s global leadership in harnessing AI and data will be instrumental.”

---