Lloyds Banking Group is getting ready to 9,000 jobs, approximately 10% of its workforce, over the next three years.
According to Reuters, the group is set to announce the cuts, as well as plans to close branches and increase automation of back-office functions, in their third quarter results next Tuesday.
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This follows speculation earlier this month that Lloyds would be closing several branches across the UK as part of a digital revamp. The government-backed lender hopes that cutting thousands of staff in areas that can be automated such as mortgage processing and new account opening will reduce costs.
The Times quoted sources saying that chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio believed that this move was essential to modernise the business and maintain cost advantages over rivals such as Barclays and Santander UK, both having made significant inroads to the digital channel. This is despite pledging in 2012 that the retail bank would keep all of its 2,900 branches open for at least three years.
Lloyds, which is still 25% owned by the UK taxpayer, is anticipating customers to manage their account online, rather than in branch or via telephone.
The cuts are unlikely to be on the same scale as those seen in the aftermath of the financial crisis which saw over 30,000 redundancies. Recently, Lloyds cut 1,080 jobs, and outsourced 310 more, as part of a revamp in January 2014. UK-based union UNITE, vehement opposition to Lloyds’ job cuts, believe that 35,000 jobs have been affected by the cuts at Lloyds since 2008.
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By GlobalDataThese cuts and reductions come just over a year after Lloyds ‘revitalised’ their brand with a network of 1,300 branches of Lloyds and TSB in England and Wales.
Lloyds declined to comment on the matter.
