The neutron-deficient ¹⁹⁶,¹⁹⁸Pb isotopes have been studied in Coulomb-excitation experiments employing the Miniball γ-ray spectrometer and radioactive ion beams from the REX-ISOLDE post-accelerator at CERN. The reduced transition probabilities of the first excited 2⁺ states in ¹⁹⁶Pb and ¹⁹⁸Pb nuclei have been measured for the first time. Values of B (E2) = 18.2₋₄,₁⁺⁴,⁸ W.u. and B (E2) = 13.1₋₃,₅⁺⁴,⁹ W.u., were obtained, respectively. The experiment sheds light on the development of collectivity when moving from the regime governed by the generalised seniority scheme to a region, where intruding structures, associated with different deformed shapes, start to come down in energy and approach the spherical ground state
