Unions in plea as fears grow of 15,000 Lloyds job losses

The lender, which has cut 27,500 jobs since it took over Halifax Bank of Scotland less than three years ago, is due to unveil a strategic review on Thursday.

Lloyds new chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio is expected to announce another round of job cuts under plans to slash another £1bn a year from its cost base.

The latest blow to staff at the group, which is 41 per cent owned by the taxpayer, adds to 27,500 jobs that have been lost since its creation in January 2009.

The Unite union’s national officer for the finance sector, Dave Fleming, said: “These are yet more extremely anxious days for the Lloyds workforce.

“Unite will be seriously concerned if the purpose of the strategic review is to make Lloyds even leaner ahead of any possible sell-off of the state’s stake in the bank.

“Already, more than 27,000 jobs have been shed from Lloyds since the bank’s formation. It is very difficult to understand where this business believes it can lose more people and stay a viable high street operation.”

The cost cuts – on top of the targeted £2bn a year savings by the end of the year – are likely to focus on stripping away layers of management with hundreds of job losses at its London head office.

Mr Horta-Osorio, who took over at Lloyds in March after being poached from rival Santander, is expected to prune the bank’s overseas interests but will pledge to revive the Halifax brand and keep the Scottish Widows insurance arm.

He is also likely to reveal that Lloyds is on course for an early exit from the Bank of England’s special liquidity scheme, which was set up in 2008 as a lifeline for banks battling to raise finance during the credit crunch.

The loans must be repaid by January, when the Bank of England intends to close the scheme.

Investors will also be looking for guidance on whether the group intends to restart paying dividends next year once a European ban on payouts to shareholders is lifted.

Lloyds declined to comment.