Lloyds cuts a further 15,000 jobs

With speculation that many of the losses will be in the back office and IT

Lloyds Banking Group is to cut a further 15,000 jobs in its bid to save £1.5bn by 2014.

Although it has been widely reported that the job cuts will largely affect back-office positions, Lloyds told Computing this was speculation.

David Fleming, national officer for the Unite union, said: "The long-awaited results of the Lloyds strategic review will cause deep distress and anxiety across the company as staff face the reality of this arbitrary slashing of jobs.

"Astonishingly, one in eight roles will be lost over the next three years. This review is merely another box-ticking exercise to give this bank, which has already – since its creation two years ago – cut over 27,000 staff, an excuse to sack more employees," he added.

Earlier this month, Lloyds also cut 300 call centre jobs within its retail, wholesale, wealth and international operations divisions.

In addition to role reductions, the bank also plans to conduct an "end-to-end redesign" of its processes, which will reduce the number of IT applications.

It also aims to create a "highly efficient distribution platform", which will involve streamlining its product portfolio and migrating products to digital distribution channels, which include the internet, mobile applications and telephony.