Lloyds bank to axe 3,000 jobs and close 200 branches

High street bank seeks to cut costs in anticipation of interest rate cut and cites 15% fall in use of branches

Lloyds Banking Group is to axe 3,000 jobs and close 200 branches as it races to reduce costs in anticipation of a cut in interest rates.

Mark Carney, the Bank of England governor, signalled that an interest rate cut would take place during the summer and the City now expects rates will be cut from their 0.5% historic low on 4 August.

Lloyds is also blaming a fall in the use of branches by customers for the job cuts, which come on top of 9,000 announced in a three-year cost-cutting programme in October 2014. These followed 45,000 jobs that went after the rescue of HBOS during the 2008 crisis. Lloyds, which also owns Halifax, now employs about 75,000 people.

The announcement came as Lloyds – which is 9% taxpayer-owned and the UK’s biggest mortgage lender – revealed it was being investigated by the Financial Conduct Authority for the way it handled customers who were having difficulty paying their mortgages.

Unions reacted furiously to the cuts. Ged Nichols, general secretary of the Accord union, which represents 22,000 staff who joined Lloyds from Halifax, said he was seeking urgent talks with the bank.

“The loyal, dedicated and customer-focused employees in the Lloyds Banking Group are still reeling from recent job losses. They will be bewildered by today’s news and wonder what has happened that is so catastrophic that these further job cuts and branch closures are necessary. Interest rates might be lower for longer but why are job losses higher and faster? Where will the axe fall next?” said Nichols.

Other union officials said customer service could be damaged. The Unite national officer Rob MacGregor said: “This grim news of yet more job losses and branch closures will send a shiver down the spine of Lloyds employees, who have worked hard to make the bank a success and deliver excellent customer service against a backdrop of continual uncertainty.”

The bank had already earmarked 200 branches for closure by 2017 so the latest announcement means that 400 will be shut by the end of next year.

António Horta-Osório, Lloyds’ chief executive, said the decision to cut jobs – which will save £400m – had been tough. But, he said, use of branches had fallen by 15% year on year, faster than had been the case at the time of the previous announcement to cut jobs.

He said he expected the Bank of England to cut rates to 0.25% but that policymakers would avoid negative rates because of the bad signal it would send about the economy. Neither did he expect to follow the move by Royal Bank of Scotland to warn customers that it might have to charge for deposits.

Horta-Osório was speaking as the bank reported a doubling of first half pre-tax profits to £2.5bn. He focused on the underlying profits – which exclude restructuring costs and other items – which were down 5% at £4.1bn.

In the immediate aftermath of the vote for Brexit the Lloyds share price dived below 50p – well below the 73.6p average price at which taxpayers bought their stake in the bank, which has fallen from 43%. After the results announcement, the shares were trading 4% lower in early trading at 53.5p.

Horta-Osório said: “Following the EU referendum the outlook for the UK economy is uncertain and, while the precise impact is dependent upon a number of factors, including EU negotiations and political and economic events, a deceleration of growth seems likely.

“Given the sustainable recovery in recent years, the UK economy enters this period of uncertainty from a position of strength and is well positioned to face any economic headwinds.”

The Brexit vote also drove sterling to 31-year lows at one stage and this has reduced the amount of capital the bank holds as it increases the value of its riskiest assets. Horta-Osório admitted that it might be difficult to generate as much surplus capital – which might be paid out in dividends – as might have been the case.

“Given the uncertainty, it is too early to determine the impact on our formal longer term guidance at this stage. However, while the business will remain highly capital generative, it is possible that this capital generation may be somewhat lower in future years than previously guided. We will formally update guidance when we have a clearer view of likely outcomes,” he said.

As a result of buying HBOS – which includes the former Halifax building society – Lloyds has 2.7 million retail investors and is paying a 0.85p per share dividend, up 13%.

George Osborne, when he was chancellor, had promised to sell the remaining taxpayer stake to the public at a discount but it is not clear how his successor, Philip Hammond, will tackle any sell-off given the fall in the share price.

The bank maintained its profit guidance – measured by net interest margin – for 2016 but did not spell out what it expected next year.

The prospect of special dividends had helped propel the share price last year. “Lower capital generation impinges on the bank’s ability to return cash to shareholders,” said Laith Khalaf, a senior analyst at the broker Hargreaves Lansdown. “Lloyds has increased its interim dividend significantly, but if the Brexit axe is to fall anywhere it’s likely to be on the special dividend at the end of the year.”