Lloyds to cut 780 jobs across bank branches
Lloyds is set to cut 780 jobs across its branches in response to declining demand for high-street banking, in the latest round of job cuts at the banking giant.
“As customers are using our branches less often, we are reducing the number of roles across our branch network,” said a Lloyds spokesperson.
Read more: Lloyds’ 2019 profit sinks after £2.45bn PPI charge
“This means we can shape our service according to customer behaviour and local demand. Change does mean difficult decisions and we are focused on supporting our colleagues at this time.”
The bank, one of the UK’s so-called Big Four lenders, operates Lloyds branches in the UK, as well as Halifax and Bank of Scotland branches. The cuts will fall across all brands.
City A.M. understands that there will be no branch or office closures as a result of the cuts.
Last week, Lloyds announced that its annual profit slumped 26 per cent in 2019 after it was hit by a rise in bad debts and a further £2.45bn payout to settle payment protection insurance (PPI) claims.
Lloyds has cut around 5,000 staff over the past two years, according to company filings, going from around 68,000 employees at the end of 2017 to just 63,000 at the end of last year.
Banks across Britain have continued to slash headcounts in response to squeezed profit margins and declining demand for high street branches in favour of online services.
HSBC last week announced its most radical overhaul in years, which will include 35,000 job cuts across the group.
Read more: PPI, profit drop, and a mixed 2020: Five takeaways from Lloyds’ results
Unite’s Scott Doyle condemned the new Lloyds cuts, describing them as “yet more evidence of the bank’s profits over people culture”.
“Unite accepts that banking models constantly change and update but this doesn’t need to equate to walking away from community banking and the public who have been loyal to the bank,” he added.