Lloyds cuts IT staff as it reskills for the online age - updated

The bank is cutting 1,000 staff from six different areas of business

Lloyds is cutting staff from its IT team, as part of its planned elimination of some 1,000 jobs across six business units, it has told Bloomberg.

The cuts will affect commercial banking, risk, community banking, insurance and wealth as well as the chief information office. Lloyds eventually plans to add back about 465 roles across the departments, a spokesperson said in a statement.

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

Other sources have claimed that 250 staff will be asked to leave the IT department, with around 150 new employees to be taken on at a later date. We are confirming these figures with Lloyds.

As more customers adopt online banking, financial institutions are finding their skill requirements changing - hence the shift in IT team focus.

In November Lloyds announced that it would close 49 branches this year, under the Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds brands, with the loss of 99 jobs (these are unrelated to the most recent cuts).

CEO Antonio Horta-Osorio will set out the company's new three-year plan on the 21st of this month. Analysts expect more information about the job cuts, as well as announcements of cost reductions and technology investments as customers move online.

Lloyds is not alone in trying to cut costs by lowering staff numbers. RBS recently announced that it would close 62 branches in Scotland this year, and others, including NatWest, are cutting staff by adopting new technologies like self-service kiosks.

Update 7th February 2018: Lloyds has confirmed that it will cut around 250 employees from its IT department, and also take on 150 new members of staff, leading to a net reduction of 98 roles.

In an email statement, the firm said:

'Last month, Lloyds Banking Group announced 98 role reductions across the Chief Information Office, which takes into account 150 new roles which will be created. These changes are being driven by advances in the technology we use to ensure we respond to our customers' needs in a fast and efficient way.

'This process involved making difficult decisions, and we are committed to working through these changes in a careful and sensitive way. All affected employees have been briefed by their line manager. Accord and Unite were consulted prior to this announcement and will continue to be consulted.'