Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Filled Under:

Lloyds to cut 5,000 jobs to reduce costs

Lloyds Banking Group said it plans to cut about 5,000 jobs in its administration, insurance and mortgage units. The bank will eliminate 2,600 full-time positions and a further 1,000 contractors and temporary workers by the end of next year, Lloyds said. About 1,400 workers will redeployed or relocated, the bank said. Lloyds had about 129,000 UK employees as of June.

The lender has eliminated over 8,000 jobs since its January takeover of HBOS, a deal which led it to seek a government bailout. Lloyds follows Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC in cutting jobs. The two lenders said last week they would eliminate a combined 5,400 positions.

Lloyds is in the midst of a three-year plan to reduce costs by more than £1.5 billion ($2.5 billion). The lender, which is 43% owned by the government, reported a £3.1 billion loss in the first half. x

“The government cannot afford to continue to look the other way as hard-working families are punished in this manner.” “There is a lot of overlap with HBOS and Lloyds,” said Irfan Younus, an analyst at NCB Stockbrokers in London. “There will always be casualties when you go through a significant restructuring.”

Chief executive officer Eric Daniels plans to raise £21 billion to avoid the Treasury’s asset insurance plan, which would have given the government a majority stake in the lender. Lloyds is raising £13.5 billion in the UK’s largest rights offer and £7.5 billion in a bond exchange. The bank will also sell 600 branches, including 164 Cheltenham & Gloucester branches it had earmarked for closure in June, to gain European Union approval for state aid.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Blog Archive