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Lloyds to cut another 5,000 jobs by end of 2010

LONDON
Tue Nov 10, 2009 6:59am EST
A pedestrian passes the head office of the Lloyds Banking Group in central London August 5, 2009. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

LONDON (Reuters) - Bailed-out British lender Lloyds Banking Group is to cut a further 5,000 jobs by the end of 2010 as it continues to overhaul its operations and integrate HBOS.

Lloyds, 43 percent owned by the government, said on Tuesday it would take mitigating actions, including redeploying staff and releasing contractors and temporary employees, to limit the net reduction in permanent jobs to 2,600.

That would take net cuts to permanent jobs at Lloyds to around 9,000 since it acquired HBOS in January. Analysts have estimated that over 30,000 jobs could go as the two banks integrate.

News of further bank sector redundancies came a week after more than 5,400 jobs were cut at part-nationalized rival Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC.

The Unite union said the cuts were "corporate arrogance."

"This country's financial sector should be looking toward the future, rather then continuing to slash jobs without proper consideration of how to re-build the public's confidence in our tarnished banking sector," Unite national officer Rob MacGregor said in a statement calling for a suspension of job losses.

Lloyds said 2,820 roles -- the bulk of the total -- would be cut in group operations, with contractors and temporary staff helping to keep the net reduction to 1,350.

It will also cut 1,190 jobs in insurance across Britain, and 950 in its mortgage operations where business will be consolidated to a handful of sites.

Lloyds said compulsory redundancies would be a last resort.

(Reporting by Clara Ferreira-Marques; Editing by Dan Lalor)



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