Lloyds Bank sheds almost 100 jobs across the region

Overall, the bank is to shed 1,080 jobs nationally, affecting employees in its retail, risk, operations and commercial banking divisions. The cuts are part of a longstanding strategy to shed some 15,000 positions, the bank said.

Besides the job losses, another 310 roles will move to new employers under TUPE arrangements, including 151 staff who will be transferred to Leeds-based Communisis as the bank outsources its in-bound mail services.

The Unite union attacked the announcement, saying workers at the taxpayer-supported bank would be “devastated”. Almost 35,000 jobs have been lost at Lloyds since 2008, said Unite.

National officer Rob MacGregor said Lloyds had recently achieved half-year profits of £2.1bn, adding: “Lloyds Banking Group is well on the road to recovery, with the chief executive being recently rewarded handsomely with a share bonus in the region of £2.5m, yet staff are being made redundant.

“Unite remains adamant that, as the bank continues to align its recovery to the UK’s economic recovery, it is totally unacceptable that it persists in putting pressure on the public purse by making hundreds of jobs redundant on a bi-monthly basis.”

Lloyds said it was committed to working through the changes with employees in a “careful and sensitive” way, adding that all affected employees were briefed by their line managers yesterday.

Banking rival Barclays is also understood to be preparing to axe several hundred jobs - at a senior level.

As part of cost cuts, employee travel for internal meetings has been banned and wider international travel scaled back to only essential client and regulator discussions, Sky News reports.

Barclays’ latest cuts are expected to impact senior executives and managing directors, on top of around 1,700 job losses made in the division last year. The group sees potential to decrease staff numbers from 140,000 to 100,000 in the coming years.