HUNDREDS of Lloyds Banking Group employees in Livingston, West Lothian, are to move to Co-operative Bank if the proposed Project Verde sale goes ahead – and hundreds more jobs are to be created at the site.
They would join around 1800 workers at the 185 Lloyds TSB Scotland branches included in the sale, which was demanded by the European Commission in the wake of the 2008 state-backed bailout of Lloyds and its rescue takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland.
Alison Brittain, group director of Lloyds's retail division, said: "This represents the next step in building the Verde business following last year's branch network and management team announcement, and marks a significant milestone in building a fully operational challenger bank, well positioned for a successful future."
Before Christmas, Co-operative Bank was named Lloyds's preferred bidder for the Verde portfolio, which includes the branches, savings accounts and mortgages of Cheltenham & Gloucester, the branches and customers of Lloyds TSB Scotland and a related banking licence, additional Lloyds TSB branches in England and Wales with their customers, and the operations of its Scottish-based Intelligent Finance online bank.
However, Lloyds has continued to work on an alternative flotation plan in case the Co-operative deal falls through.
In all, 1400 Lloyds staff providing back office support at offices in Livingston, Birmingham, Gloucester, Sunderland and Swansea would join the Verde business. So too would 5000 employees at around 600 branches across the UK.
Lloyds said another 500 new jobs would be created in the Verde business.
The decision means the Verde bank would share the former headquarters of Intelligent Finance at Livingston with Lloyds.
Lloyds said: "We continue to progress discussions with the Co-operative Group. However, given that this is a substantial business and a highly complex transaction the group anticipates providing a further update in Q2 2012."
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