LLOYDS Banking Group will next week announce plans to cut 9,000 UK jobs over the next three years, according to reports.
The banking giant, which owns the Bank of Scotland and employs around 16,000 people in Scotland, is expected to make the announcement as part of Chief Executive Antonio Horta-Osorio's strategy review next Tuesday. The cuts amount to around 10 per cent of Lloyds' workforce.
Mr Horta-Osorio's new three-year plan is expected to include the closure of some branches as the bank responds to a growing number of transactions being executed online, and the auto-mation of some back-office functions.
The cuts are on top of the 30,000 jobs which the bank has axed since its £20.5 billion ($33 billion) government bailout during the financial crisis of 2007 to 2009.
Mr Horta-Osorio has turned around the bank's fortunes since joining Lloyds as chief executive in 2011, returning the bank to profit and enabling the government to start selling its shares.
The Government still holds a 25 per cent stake in the bank but could look to sell more shares if Lloyds is given permission by Britain's financial regulator to start paying dividends for the first time since its bailout.
It continues a widespread trend among all of the major high street banks, which have been laying off branch staff in response to the soaring numbers of banking transactions now conducted online or on mobile devices.
Lloyds declined to comment on the reports.
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