700 jobs to go at Lloyds Banking Group

Part-nationalized Lloyds Banking Group has announced 700 job cut in the UK as chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio continues to overhaul the lender. The loss of jobs, the different divisions and locations, form part of 15,000 cut announced in June under Mr Horta-Osorio for strategic business analysis. Said Lloyds, which is 40.2% owned by the taxpayer, the biggest chunk of job losses offices in Cardiff and Newport, where 200 face the ax. The rest of the cut is spread throughout the UK. This announcement shortly after Mr Horta-Osorio returned to the bank after a two month absence left due to severe sleeping problems. It also follows official unemployment figures in life which showed the number of jobless in the UK hitting a 17-year high of 2.68 million in the three months to November. The group said it is natural that people turnover and redeploy where possible and compulsory redundancies will always be "a last resort". All affected employees briefed by their line manager as recognized union was consulted before the announcement. The group said the strategic review is to target middle-management roles, while divisions affected in this latest round community bank, wholesale, and wealth and international divisions, among others. Horta-Osorio also announced plans to reduce the presence of international companies from 30 countries in less than 15 in 2014. And he has committed to revitalize the Halifax brand. Lloyds said underlying profits fell 21% to £ 644m in the three months to September 30 after hit by weaker demand for loans and higher cost of wholesale funding.