Bridgend named among 49 Lloyds Bank branches to close

THE Lloyds Bank brand in Bridgend is set to close.

More than 1,200 jobs are being axed at the banking group under plans to shut 49 branches in a further blow to Britain’s high streets.

The banking giant said 1,230 jobs will be cut across its branch network and some central functions as part of the move.

It said it hopes to redeploy affected staff where possible, with compulsory redundancies a “last resort”.

A Lloyds Bank spokesperson said: “We have made the difficult decision to close the Lloyds Bank, Bridgend Industrial Estate branch in September 2018 due to the changing ways customers choose to bank with us, which has resulted in the branch being used less often.

“We apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause. Customers can continue to access their banking locally by visiting the nearby post office, which is a short distance from the branch. The nearest alternative branch is Wyndham Street, Bridgend,”

The group is also creating 925 roles elsewhere in the business and insisted the overall job losses would be 305. Lloyds also pledged to expand its mobile branch network by another seven to 36 to help offset the branch closures.

The branches will close across its Lloyds and Halifax banking brands between July and October this year.

The Lloyds spokesperson added: “These branch closures are in response to changing behaviour and the reduced number of transactions being made in branches.”

On the job cuts, he said: “The group’s policy is always to use natural turnover and to redeploy people wherever possible to retain their expertise and knowledge within the group. Since 2011, over 90% of role reductions have been achieved through a combination of natural attrition, redeployment and voluntary redundancy.

“Where it is necessary for employees to leave the company, we will look to achieve this by offering voluntary redundancy. Compulsory redundancies will always be a last resort.”

The group said the new roles being created comes as part of its pledge to invest £3bn in technology and training staff under a new three-year strategy.

Last year Lloyds said it would shut 100 branches with hundreds of jobs being affected, while in February, it announced another 465 roles were being cut.

The group recently unveiled a 24% surge in bottom-line profits to £5.3bn for 2017 and revealed it handed boss Antonio Horta-Osorio a £6.4m pay package, up 11% on 2016.