Lloyds to axe hundreds of jobs in wealth and insurance

The banking giant said the losses will mainly be in its wealth and insurance businesses, with the ongoing transition to its advice joint venture Schroders Personal Wealth making some of the roles and services redundant. 

The cuts will be offset by the creation of 226 new roles within the company and Lloyds insisted the majority of job losses were part of existing restructuring plans that had been put on hold when the pandemic hit. 

Staff affected by the cuts are not expected to leave Lloyds until November "at the earliest" following pledges made by the bank earlier this year that no employees facing redundancy would leave the company before October amid the chaos of the virus outbreak. 

A Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson said: "These changes primarily reflect our existing plans to simplify parts of our businesses, which were in place prior to Covid-19.

"We will seek to redeploy wherever possible, with all colleagues given access to a package of training and support designed to help them secure their next position, whether within or outside of the group."

Lloyds said it recognised change meant "making difficult decisions".

Trade union Unite said it was "dismayed" at the news and "extremely worried" for the future prospects of those being made redundant in such challenging times. 

Unite national officer Rob MacGregor said: "The pandemic has demonstrated the amazing resilience and flexibility of this workforce.

"The employer should not focus solely on cutting jobs and costs but instead the bank should invest in a workforce that has only shown loyalty, dedication and hard work through the good times, and the bad."

Lloyds reported a pre-tax loss of £602m for the first half of this year amid warnings of the "profound" impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the global economy. 

rachel.mortimer@ft.com

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