Lloyds axes 650 staff and closes agencies

LLOYDS is to cut 650 jobs and stop using a network of independent agencies, prompting the closure of all 265 and affecting hundreds more staff.

The banking group, which is 41 per cent owned by the Government, said a total of 61 Halifax Independent Agencies will be closed in Yorkshire.

The employees who work at these agencies are not employed by Lloyds. Independent agencies were developed by many building societies, including Halifax, to increase their footprint without opening full branches.

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They are typically located within an estate agent, solicitor or insurance agent's offices, each employing a small number of staff and offering basic services.

It is unclear how many staff will be affected by the closures.

Yesterday Lloyds said it had agreed a deal with the Post Office, whereby Halifax customers will be able to deposit cash and cheques at about 12,000 Post Offices counters.

The 650 Lloyds job losses follow the closure of an insurance site in Nottingham and cuts at other locations including Chester.

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Lloyds said around 20 jobs will be lost in Yorkshire as a result.

The bank said that as many as 1,850 bank staff will be affected overall by the drive to cut costs.

But it said the net impact on permanent roles had been limited to 650 through redeployment.

The bank said the closure of the independent Halifax agencies would be staggered between October 4 and November 12.

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Lloyds said that it would look to take on some of the affected staff within its own Halifax network and would pay redundancy on behalf of the firms if necessary.

It said that the independent agency network had already been in decline, almost halving from 475 since 2005.

The job losses add to 15,000 cuts already confirmed by Lloyds as it looks to save 2bn in costs year on year following the rescue takeover of HBOS.