Bank of Ireland names Prag Sharma as first chief AI officer

Bank of Ireland has appointed Prag Sharma, formerly of Citigroup, as its first chief AI officer, adding a senior technology role as artificial intelligence becomes part of the group’s strategy through 2028. The appointment places AI governance, product delivery and adoption under dedicated executive leadership at a lender that has already reported measurable use of the technology in payments fraud detection and customer service.

Sharma joins from Citi, where he established and led the bank’s Global AI Centre of Excellence, according to Finextra. That unit delivered AI-powered products across 96 countries. His most recent role at Citi was director in the Citi Institute, the bank’s Future of Finance think-tank and research unit.

Before Citi, Sharma worked in innovation and emerging-technology roles across financial services, consulting and academia. His previous posts included positions with Deloitte’s Advanced Analytics Consulting Practice, University College Dublin’s Insight Centre for Data Analytics and Accenture’s Integrated Markets Group, according to Finextra.

Ciarán Coyle, Bank of Ireland’s group chief operating officer, said AI is a central element of the bank’s updated strategy to 2028. In comments on the appointment, Coyle described Sharma’s role as “a critical appointment in the delivery of the strategy” and said the bank aimed to accelerate AI adoption safely while developing responsible AI use across the group.

AI use expands across banking operations

The appointment comes as banks increase investment in machine learning and generative AI tools while regulators, boards and customers demand stronger controls over model risk, data privacy and operational resilience. In banking, AI systems can screen transactions for suspicious patterns, sort customer-service requests and generate personalised insights, but their use typically requires controls over data quality, explainability, bias and human oversight.

Bank of Ireland reported earlier this year that AI and machine-learning models assessed 1 billion card transactions and helped prevent €9.7 million in fraud in 2025, according to Finextra. Fraud-screening models compare payment activity against patterns associated with legitimate and suspicious transactions, allowing banks to block or review activity that appears anomalous.

The bank also delivered 127 million AI-powered spending insights to customers, according to the same report. Such tools use transaction data to identify patterns in customer spending and present them through digital channels.

In contact centres, Bank of Ireland has deployed AI-powered support to direct customers to appropriate help more quickly. The bank reported that the technology reduced call transfers by 40%, according to Finextra. In practice, these systems can classify customer needs, assist agents with information retrieval and route requests to the right teams.

Training plans for staff

Bank of Ireland is also broadening staff training as part of its AI programme. The bank plans to provide AI-immersion learning for all employees during 2026, according to Finextra.

A separate group of employees has been chosen for the Cambridge Spark AI programme, a specialist course intended to build more advanced AI capabilities among staff expected to help shape the lender’s approach to the technology. The bank has not disclosed the size of that employee cohort in the material cited by Finextra.

Sharma’s appointment gives Bank of Ireland a named executive owner for an area that is moving from experimentation into core operations at major financial institutions. The bank has positioned the role around responsible AI adoption, operational use cases and workforce readiness as it pursues its strategy to 2028.

This story draws on original reporting from Finextra Research.