Lloyds Banking Group has confirmed that it plans to close more than 150 branches axe 9,000 jobs as part of a modernisation programme.
The move is intended to save £1 billion by 2017 and bring the business into the digital era, where increasing numbers of people do the majority of their banking online through banks’ websites or mobile apps and rarely ever visit branches in person.
The bank said that it will focus on urban branch closures first, but said that it had abandoned its pledge to keep open the “last branch in town”.
The unions reacted angrily to the news of job losses, and Unite national officer Rob MacGregor called on Lloyds to guarantee “no compulsory redundancies“.
The banking group, which owns Halifax and Bank of Scotland, also said that it was setting aside a further £900 million to cover possible future payouts for PPI miss-selling, a scandal which has cost the group £11.3 billion so far.
Group chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said that the bank is “performing strongly” and reported pre-tax profits of £1.6 billion for the nine months to 30 September.
