Banking shake-up as Lloyds ‘resets approach to risk’

LLOYDS Banking Group is shaking up its risk management team in a bid to speed up transformation, as a top executive said some processes are time-consuming and blocking the business’s progress, according to new reports.

The restructuring will put a number of roles under threat of redundancy, but will create jobs in other areas.

Lloyds told staff it is “resetting our approach to risk and controls”, according to an internal memo sent last month from chief risk officer Stephen Shelley, seen by the Financial Times.

Mr Shelley said two-thirds of executives think risk management is a blocker to its strategic transformation, while less than half of its workforce believe “intelligent risk-taking is encouraged”, according to the reports.

According to the Accord union, Mr Shelley also told staff last month that the bank needs to “face into the things that we know, or our people tell us, slows down or hinders our attempts to reach the right outcomes”.

The union, which says it represents about 22,000 staff at Lloyds and TSB, said the bank is making significant changes in its approach to risk management which had led to some jobs placed immediately at risk of redundancy.

Around 175 permanent jobs in the bank’s risk division and related roles are under threat of redundancy as a result of the change.

But it is expected to create about 130 roles which are focused on specialist risk and technical expertise.

A spokeswoman for Lloyds said the bank is making progress on its transformation strategy, which it is more than two years into.

The plan includes making the group more efficient and speeding up the pace of its digitisation.

The bank said: “Making changes means not only creating new roles and upskilling colleagues in some parts of the business but also having to say goodbye to talented colleagues who have been a part of the group’s success.”