LLOYDS Banking Group yesterday announced the loss of 535 jobs with the closure of a site in Chester – with more bad news expected to follow this morning from Accenture.

The part-nationalised bank yesterday announced a restructure in Merseyside and Cheshire among a raft of cost-cutting changes.

It is shutting its Chester call centre at Premier House, although at the same time 140 jobs will be created at Speke and Warrington and a further 91 roles redeployed to those sites from Chester.

Accenture is expected to announce it is axing up to 190 full-time and 14 contractors’ roles involved in IT functions for Scottish Power in Chester and Scotland in an outsourcing deal.

Lloyds employs about 3,000 people at its three sites in the region, as well as staff at its branches.

Nationwide a total of 650 Lloyds jobs will be lost, with the majority of the remainder resulting from the closure of an insurance site in Nottingham.

In other changes, Lloyds is shutting its 265-strong network of Halifax-branded counters based within firms such as solicitors and estate agencies.

This is expected to hit a further swathe of workers, although not directly employed by Lloyds.

More than 2,000 Lloyds staff will remain in Chester across four sites after the closure of Premier House, working in group operations and wholesale operations. A spokesperson for Lloyds Banking Group said: “Chester is a major centre for the group and we will still have a strong presence.

“The majority of the roles will come from our retail function – it is a call centre that will be closing.

“We are going to work closely with our colleagues. It’s not immediate, it will take place over the coming year. Our policy will be to use natural turnover where possible.”

Lloyds’ Speke operation will take 46 redeployed roles with 32 jobs to be created, which will increase its workforce to about 270.

In Warrington, there will be 108 new jobs and 45 people redeployed, which will take the number of people employed up to 550.