• Bank of Ireland has appointed Prag Sharma as its first chief AI officer, starting October 2026 (RTE, 20 Jul 2026).
• Sharma joins from Citigroup, where he most recently was a director at Citi Institute's Future of Finance think-tank after founding its Global AI Centre of Excellence, which shipped AI products across 96 countries (RTE, 20 Jul 2026).
• Bank of Ireland frames AI as a core pillar of its strategy through 2028, per Group COO Ciarán Coyle (RTE, 20 Jul 2026).
• The role sits at group leadership level rather than inside IT, signalling AI governance is becoming a standing executive function at large European retail banks.
• No budget, headcount or governance structure tied to the new role has been disclosed.

Bank of Ireland has named Prag Sharma as its first chief AI officer, hiring him away from Citigroup to start in October 2026 (RTE, 20 Jul 2026). Sharma founded and led Citigroup's Global AI Centre of Excellence, which shipped AI products across 96 countries, before moving to a director role in Citi Institute's Future of Finance think-tank (RTE, 20 Jul 2026). Bank of Ireland says AI is now core to its strategy through 2028; it has not disclosed a budget, headcount or governance structure for the role.

What Sharma built before Dublin

Before his think-tank posting, Sharma founded and led Citigroup's Global AI Centre of Excellence, which delivered AI-powered products across 96 countries, according to reporting on the appointment (RTE, 20 Jul 2026). His earlier career spans Deloitte's Advanced Analytics Consulting Practice, UCD's Insight Centre for Data Analytics, and Accenture's Integrated Markets Group, per the same reporting. That mix of enterprise-scale deployment and applied-research experience is the profile Bank of Ireland is betting on to move AI from pilot projects into production banking systems.

The mandate: AI to 2028

Bank of Ireland says artificial intelligence is a core component of its strategy through 2028 and wants to be at the forefront of responsible AI adoption in banking (RTE, 20 Jul 2026). Group Chief Operating Officer Ciarán Coyle said Sharma "brings the vision, leadership and expertise required to safely accelerate our AI transformation and unlock meaningful value across the group" (RTE, 20 Jul 2026). Neither Coyle's statement nor the reporting on the appointment specifies a budget, headcount or governance structure attached to the new role.

What it signals for Irish and Gulf banking

A dedicated chief AI officer role, reporting into group leadership rather than IT, signals Bank of Ireland is treating AI governance as a standing executive function, not a lab experiment. For rival retail banks and Gulf lenders scaling their own AI programmes, the reference point shifts: chief AI officer hires with large-institution deployment experience, not just data-science credentials, are becoming the benchmark. Customers and regulators should watch for the still-undisclosed governance and oversight structure Sharma is expected to build once he starts in October.