Alex Salmond will co-host an emergency summit meeting in Edinburgh today in a bid to secure thousands of Scottish jobs.

Alex Salmond will co-host an emergency summit meeting in Edinburgh today in a bid to secure thousands of Scottish jobs as the First Minister gears up to meet Lloyds TSB bosses to discuss the shock takeover of HBOS.

Up to 80 union and business leaders, politicians and academics will attend a special meeting of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) to discuss ways of saving workers from redundancy and safeguarding the Scottish financial sector.

The summit will be followed by another 11th-hour meeting in the city tomorrow morning with banking leaders who will offer advice to Mr Salmond ahead of his talks with Lloyds TSB executives in Edinburgh later that day.

Unite welcomed the move ahead of tabling an emergency motion at the Labour Party conference today where the union's joint general secretary Derek Simpson will call on ministers to "step in" unless the banking giants acted fast to allay growing fears for the 140,000 employees at Lloyds TSB and HBOS, including 24,000 Scottish staff.

Lloyds TSB insisted that it was unlikely to know how many jobs would go until the end of the year due to the time involved in the process, though it repeated its commitment to protecting jobs in Scotland - a pledge that caused allegations of playing political in the run-up to the Glenrothes by-election.

HBOS meanwhile refuted reports that nearly a quarter of the new superbank's 3000 branches could be axed through the £12bn takeover, echoing Lloyds TSB's claim that it was "far too early" to say what the impact would be.

Mr Simpson, who has yet to obtain a meeting with the banks' "greed-driven" bosses, hit out at the assertion.

He said: "This crisis has a real human cost with thousands of hard-working families at risk of losing their homes. In the short term HBOS and Lloyds TSB must engage with the unions immediately and reassure staff that they will do everything possible to protect jobs. "If the banks don't the government must step in, they have already intervened and we believe, if necessary they should intervene to protect jobs in the financial services.

"Looking ahead, the government must act and undertake a thorough review of the regulations covering the activities of the finance institutions. We can never allow greed and excess to damage our country like this again."

The Scottish Government said today's meeting would present a "united front" to fight for Scottish jobs, with leaders and finance chiefs for all the political parties joining representatives from chambers of commerce and councils.

An aide to the First Minister said yesterday: "This summit is about taking forward the unity of purpose which was displayed at First Minister's Questions (last week during debate on the issue) so that Scotland is speaking with one voice to try to exert as much influence as possible to safeguard as many Scottish jobs in the financial sector and, crucially, to ensure that key decision-making functions are located in Scotland. At the moment there is such a lot to be determined."

Mr Salmond will co-host today's summit meeting with SCDI chief executive Dr Lesley Sawyers. She said: "This is an opportunity for the economic community to put their questions and views to the First Minister, and to look at how we work together to maximise the benefit of the merger and minimise any potential negative impacts to Scotland.

"There are inevitably concerns among professional services and other suppliers to both groups."

Tomorrow banking leaders at the Financial Services Advisory Board will provide more advice for the First Minister in a private meeting before he meets senior management from Lloyds TSB.

A spokesman for Lloyds TSB said it would be in "listening mode" at tomorrow's meeting. He added: "We are also going to be reiterating our commitments in terms of having our AGM in Scotland, a Scottish headquarters and the focus on Scottish jobs."

Meanwhile the Church of Scotland became the latest body to criticise the "culture of greed" which has been blamed for the current crisis. The moderator of the church's general assembly Rev David Lunan warned that society was being destroyed.