Lloyds won’t reduce branch numbers

Banking group Lloyds pledged today not to reduce its branch network for three years following a moratorium on closures last year.

The group, which is the UK’s biggest retail bank with 2,902 branches, said in March it would not close any outlets until the end of 2011 while new boss Antonio Horta-Osorio carried out a strategic review.

Today it said it will keep branch numbers the same for the next three years, meaning that if it closes one, another will be opened.

It also said it will not close a site if it is the last one in a community.

The announcement does not include the 632 sites it will sell to the Co-operative Group at the end of 2013 after it was ordered to scale down by the European Commission in return for taking bail-out money.

Horta-Osorio said: “We want to put the customer at the heart of everything we do and it is why last year we put a moratorium on branch closures.

“Today we commit to keeping the same number of branches on a net basis, over the next three years.

“Branches are at the heart of how we serve customers and are at the centre of our communities. The branch network will continue to play a vital part in our future plans.”

Rivals including HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland have closed branches in recent months.