By Jon Menon and Andrew MacAskill
Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, 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 in a statement today. About 1,400 workers will be redeployed or relocated, the bank said. Lloyds had about 129,000 U.K. employees at the end of June.
The lender has already announced more than 8,000 jobs cuts since its January takeover of HBOS Plc, a deal which led it to seek a government bailout. Lloyds follows Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and HSBC Holdings Plc in cutting jobs. The two lenders said last week they would eliminate a combined 5,400 positions.
The Lloyds job “losses demonstrate the depth of corporate arrogance within this taxpayer-supported bank,” Rob MacGregor, national officer at the Unite labor union said in an e-mail. “The government cannot afford to continue to look the other way as hard-working families are punished in this manner.”
Lloyds is in the midst of a three-year plan to reduce costs by more than 1.5 billion pounds ($2.5 billion). The lender, which is 43 percent owned by the government, reported a 3.1 billion-pound loss in the first half.
“There is a lot of overlap with HBOS and Lloyds,” said Irfan Younus, an analyst at NCB Stockbrokers Ltd. in London. “There will always be casualties when you go through a significant restructuring.”
Chief Executive Officer Eric Daniels plans to raise 21 billion pounds 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 pounds in the U.K.’s largest rights offer and 7.5 billion pounds 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.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jon Menon in London at jmenon1@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: November 10, 2009 06:15 EST
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