Lloyds plans to axe 5,000 further jobs
ANOTHER 5,000 jobs will be lost at Lloyds Banking Group, bringing the total number of sackings to 12,500 since the credit crunch began.
Lloyds employees were yesterday warned by banking experts that there could be up to 30,000 sackings before the Lloyds-HBOS merger is complete.
Unions branded the cuts, which were announced on the same day that rivals Barclays and HSBC were reporting third quarter results, as “corporate arrogance”.
The majority of job losses at Lloyds will happen in back office roles and will be completed by the end of 2010.
Lloyds, which is 43 per cent owned by the taxpayer, said 2,600 permanent jobs would be lost.
The bank will try to focus on temporary employees and contractors, as well as seeking to redeploy some staff.
It will cut 1,190 jobs in insurance across Britain, and 950 in its mortgage operations where workers will be consolidated to a handful of sites.
Representing bank workers, the union Unite said the industry was entering “another dark week”.
“It beggars belief that just days after 5,400 jobs were cut in RBS and HSBC, we see further devastation for workers in this part-nationalised financial institution,” said Unite national officer Rob MacGregor.
“This country’s financial sector should be looking towards the future, rather then continuing to slash jobs without proper consideration of how to re-build the public’s confidence in our tarnished banking sector.”
FAST FACTS COMPANY
&9679; Lloyds said it would cut 1,190 jobs in insurance and 950 in its mortgage operations
&9679; The bank, which is 43 per cent owned by the tax payer said that 2,600 permanent jobs would be lost
BANKING JOB CUTS
LLOYDS’ ANNOUNCEMENT IS THE LATEST BAD NEWS FOR WORKERS
The announcement of a further 5,000 job losses at LLoyds brings the total to 12,500. Banking analysts believe a further 20,000 jobs could go before the operations of Lloyds and HBOS are fully integrated.
Last week, the other nationalised bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, said that it would cut a further 3,700 posts. RBS has already axed 16,000 staff.
HSBC, which yesterday announced that its third quarter profits were “significantly ahead” of last year, outlined plans to cut a further 1,700 jobs across the country, taking the bank’s job cuts to 3,400 since December.
Rounding out the big four banks, Barclays cut 4,000 jobs in January.
Although jobs in the banking sector have been heavily hit since the global financial crisis, the bleak picture is mirrored across the wider economy.
Figures due out today are expected to show Britain’s number of jobless has risen to 2.5m, taking the unemployment rate to eight per cent.
But it is not just British banks that are swinging the axe on their workforce. France’s biggest retail bank Credit Agricole said it will cut 500 jobs worldwide, Citigroup has cut over 23,660 jobs or 6.3 per cent of its workforce, Bank of America has cut 11,150 people or 5.3 per cent of staff and UBS has axed 9,000 people or 10.8 per cent of workforce.