Lloyds Bank axes 15,000 more jobs

LLOYDS Banking Group delivered another blow to staff today as it unveiled plans to slash a further 15,000 jobs by 2014 in a bid to save £1.5 billion a year.

The huge round of job cuts was unveiled by new chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio as part of his strategic review for the taxpayer-backed lender.

The latest cull will bring total job losses at the 41 per cent state-owned bank to more than 40,000 since the group was formed in 2009 when Lloyds TSB and HBOS merged.

Pledging to create a more "agile" organisation, Mr Horta-Osorio said the majority of the job cuts were likely to be in middle management and back office roles rather than in branches. Lloyds will also look to use natural staff attrition and internal redeployment rather than redundancy where possible.

However, the Unite union said the review will cause "deep distress and anxiety" across the company.