Lloyds Bank confirms 9,000 job losses and branch closures
Lloyds Banking Group's 9,000 extra job cuts will bring the total to 52,000 since 2008Lloyds Banking Group has confirmed 9,000 job losses and the net closure of 150 branches over the next three years.
The latest job losses - representing about 10% of its workforce - come on top of 43,000 cuts made since 2008.
The bank said it would concentrate on urban branch closures first and has abandoned its pledge to keep open "the last branch in town".
The group is also setting aside another £900m to cover possible payouts for the PPI mis-selling scandal.
That has cost Lloyds £11.3bn so far, including £2.5bn in administration costs.
Other fines have topped £200m.
Lloyds, which owns the Halifax and Bank of Scotland brands, reported pre-tax profits of £1.61bn for the nine months to 30 September.
"The group is performing strongly," said chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio.
"We have met or exceeded the strategic objectives set out in 2011 and are ready to move on to the next stage in our development."
Mobile bankingContinue reading the main storyThe closures and job cuts are due to customers switching towards mobile banking, the bank says.The bank says it will be closing 200 branches but opening 50 new ones, bringing the net closure figure to 150 - about 9% of its network of 2,250.
As a result, Lloyds will be investing £1bn in digital technology over the next three years.
According to the banking trade body the BBA,digital banking transactions are now worth almost £1bn a day, with almost 40 million mobile and internet banking transactions every week.
The bank remains confident that it will be able to pay a dividend to shareholders in 2014, but it needs the permission of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) before it can do so.
Finance director George Culmer said talks with the PRA were "in a good position".
Spin-offEarlier this year, Lloyds spun off the TSB bank as a separate floated business to appease European Union competition authorities.
It has gradually been reducing its stake in TSB and now owns just 50%, Lloyds said.
The government still holds a 25% stake in the bank, but has reduced its holding from about 39% through two separate share sales since September last year.
In early trading, shares in Lloyds Banking Group were down 1.5% on the news.
On Monday, its shares fell 1.8% after the European Banking Authority's results revealed that the bank only narrowly passed its "stress test".
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