Interview: Aled Patchett, Global Head of Consumer and Retail, Lloyds Corporate & Institutional
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We sat down with Aled Patchett, Global Head for Consumer and Retail at Lloyds Corporate & Institutional, to explore the evolving consumer landscape. Aled offers a compelling look at the trends shaping the sector and how Lloyds is helping clients navigate them.
To start us off, could you tell us a bit about your background and your journey to your current role?
When I left school, I was set on a career in engineering and went to Cambridge University with that in mind. But ultimately, I was drawn to banking due to the dynamic environment and the fast pace of city life. I’ve been with Lloyds since 2005, and during that time I’ve held a variety of roles, including working in Hong Kong, in the early part of my career, almost a decade within Markets (or on the trading floor) working with corporate, and a year at Heathrow Airport supporting the capital markets activity for the third runway project.
Subscribe to TRBLooking back, my career has perhaps naturally steered towards Consumer and Retail. My technical background as an engineer and my family’s farming heritage gave me a strong appreciation for the food ecosystem and the Consumer sector more broadly.
What does your current remit at Lloyds cover, and what does life look like leading the Consumer and Retail sector team?
I’m the Global Head for Consumer and Retail, covering the UK, Europe, and the US. We support clients across their full banking and financial needs. The sector is fascinating because you are working closely with some of the most well-known brands in a fast-paced, constantly evolving sector.
Our proposition and support for retailers is much broader than traditional lending. We offer end-to-end service support, from day-to-day banking, payment solutions for customers and suppliers, data insights to help retailers make strategic decisions, and also tailored solutions to support retailers’ employees through electric vehicles and pension solutions.
What are the key themes you’re seeing from large retailers at the moment?
Retailers are still managing inflation-related cost pressures while navigating increasingly value-conscious consumers. Pricing and loyalty strategies remain key, alongside growing interest in AI to personalise experiences, marketing and optimise operations. Many are turning to automation and data-led decision making to stay competitive in a fast-moving environment. Success isn’t solely about the demographic of your customer base, it’s about the end-to-end experience, meeting and exceeding customer expectations with product quality, service, convenience and price.
What innovations are you seeing in consumer behaviour – and how is Lloyds helping retailers respond?
Consumer expectations are shifting toward seamless, personalised experiences, and Lloyds is evolving to help retailers meet those demands. While banking and lending remain core to our business, we’ve developed targeted solutions to support retailers’ growth. Our Lloyds Bank Market Intelligence products use anonymised and aggregated data insights from our 28 million customers to help retailers better understand customer behaviour, store performance, and regional trends supporting smarter, data-led decision-making. This data has a broad range of applications. For example, we work with clients on identifying how they are performing against their competitors, which demographics they over and under index with, and the best locations for their physical stores.
We’re also seeing changes in retailer payment behaviour, with growing interest in flexible payment options. To support this, we’ve launched Black Horse FlexPay, an embedded finance solution that integrates into retailer checkouts to give consumers more payment options. Our data shows a 58% increase in the 25-29 age group, (July 2025 vs July 2024) for using flexible payment solutions.
This aligns with broader market trends, with the UK Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) market forecasted to grow by 58% to £47.27 billion by 2029.
You’ve mentioned support for employees – how does Lloyds help retailers in this area, particularly around workforce resilience and wellbeing?
We help retailers invest in their people through a range of offerings. Scottish Widows provides financial wellbeing tools like pension education and budgeting support. Through our partnership with Wagestream, employees gain access to flexible pay and savings options, helping reduce financial stress. And through Tusker, we offer salary sacrifice schemes for electric vehicles – an area where we’re seeing growing interest from retailers looking to enhance benefits while supporting sustainability.
How is the retail sector evolving its approach to ESG?
Sustainability is a core priority for retailers, driven by customer values and long-term resilience. With food production responsible for a third of global emissions, according to the UN environment programme, and climate and geopolitical risks straining UK supply chains – retailers and grocers are investing in greener supply chains, energy efficiency, and sustainable packaging.
Lloyds is supporting this shift through tailored financing, including sustainability-linked loans and supply chain finance. For example, Asda has launched a new sustainability-linked supply chain finance programme with Lloyds, which enables preferential rates for suppliers based on sustainability performance, promoting transparency and progress across its supply base.
We’re also backing UK Foodtech, connecting capital with innovations like vertical farming and alternative proteins to cut waste, reduce emissions, and strengthen local production.
What’s next for you personally?
Six years in my current role has been fantastic, but I’ll shortly be moving to a new position. It’s closely aligned with the Consumer sector and will involve areas like data, card services, consumer finance, corporate cards, asset finance and international trade. I will remain deeply connected to retail. It’s about the next learning stretch and continuing to explore how Lloyds can be much more than just a bank for its clients.
Lloyds and Lloyds Bank are trading names of Lloyds Bank plc. Registered Office: 25 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7HN. Registered in England and Wales no. 2065. Telephone: 0207 626 1500.
Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority under Registration Number 119278.
Lloyds Banking Group is a financial services group that incorporates a number of brands including (Lloyds Bank, Tusker, Black Horse and Scottish Widows). More information on Lloyds Banking Group can be found at lloydsbankinggroup.com.
