THE region’s banking sector was hit by more job cuts yesterday, after Lloyds Banking Group announced the closure of two telephony units in Chester and Speke.
The move – which affects 42 employees at each site – is part of a number of changes for the group as it restructures following the merger of Lloyds TSB and HBOS.
Up to 2,100 jobs will be affected over the next three years, although Lloyds said 350 new roles will be created in its wholesale division.
The bank said it expected 700 job losses to be achieved through natural attrition and the release of contract and agency staff.
It also announced that it would not be offshoring any permanent operational roles, keeping jobs in the UK wherever possible.
The cuts come just two months after HBOS axed its motor finance division, which affected 200 people at its Speke offices on Estuary Commerce Park and 340 in Chester, although 240 staff were redeployed to personal finance.
Mark Fisher, Lloyds Banking Group director of group operations, said: “By bringing the businesses together, we will be better placed for the future. Regrettably, however, some of our colleagues will be affected by our plans.
“We understand that this difficult news will be unsettling and we will be working closely with those colleagues affected.”
The telephony units in Speke and Chester place outbound calls to businesses to help them with their cash deposits. This work will now be undertaken by individual offices.
The Unite union said it was “astonished” at the new job losses, saying “real questions” now had to be asked about how far the bank can be allowed to go in its “systematic” slashing of staff.
Rob MacGregor, Unite's national officer, said: “This loss of over 2,000 jobs marks the largest single job loss announcement since the formation of Lloyds Banking Group in January.
“Morale is now truly low, as employees across Lloyds are in a permanent state of anxiety as they see their employer announce hundreds of job losses every week.
“This horrendous news brings the total of job losses since January in Lloyds Banking Group to over 7,000.”
Lloyds countered that it has created more than 1,000 new roles this year.
Last week, Barclays announced it was to cut 188 jobs from its Wavertree and Moorfields sites in the city, as it replaced most of the positions in its ISA processing team with an automated process.
Staff at Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank were eligible for a redundancy scheme that new owners Santander launched to reduce its 23,000-strong UK workforce by 1,900, as a result of its purchase of A&L and Bradford & Bingley last year.
