Lloyds Bank to cut 665 jobs and close further 49 branches
Lloyds Banking Group said yesterday it will cut another 665 jobs and shut down 49 branches as part of a three-year restructure of the business aimed at cutting costs.
The business will create 145 new roles across the business, but will lay off staff in retail, commercial banking, insurance and consumer finance, the bank said on Wednesday.
It will also close 49 branches, beginning next year, and will cushion the blow by launching a new mobile van banking service to reach customers who are left with no branch near them. Eight mobile branches will hit the roads from early next year. Lloyds said visits to branches had fallen 15 per cent last year, which justified closing them.
The lender has closed 153 branches so far this year. Some of these closures have left high streets without a single branch of any bank.
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Meanwhile, the chancellor, Philip Hammond, continued to sell off the government holdings in the bank after taxpayers bought a 43 per cent stake in it during the 2008 financial crisis. He is expected to get rid of the rest of the shares in the next year.
Shares were down around 0.5 per cent at the news but have slightly recovered.
Last month Lloyds announced third-quarter profits largely unchanged from a year ago, defying expectations, but profits slid as more was put aside for PPI claims.