UNCERTAINTY surrounds the future of a number of Lloyds branches, including Bromsgrove, Rubery, Droitwich and Northfield after the bank announced it was to make thousands of jobs cuts and a further 200 closures across the UK.
National reports have said 3,000 jobs were to go with many branches closing by the end of the next year partly due to the potential impact of last month’s Brexit referendum vote.
However this latest cuts announcement comes despite Lloyds’ profits more than doubling to £2.5bn in the first six months of the year.
This development is in addition of the top of the 200 closures the bank announced in 2014, making around 400 in total.
It is not yet known which branches from the recently announced cuts will close as a review will be taken in due course.
According to Lloyds’ website, there are currently three Lloyds branches in Malvern with outlets in Worcester Road, Belle Vue Terrace and Barnards Green Road.
Locally, there are branches in Droitwich and Worcester.
In a statement the bank said: “Given the uncertainty, it is too early to determine the impact on our formal longer term guidance at this stage.
“However, while the business will remain highly capital generative, it is possible that this capital generation may be somewhat lower in future years than previously guided.”
Rob MacGregor, the national officer for Unite, which represents some Lloyds staff, called the job cuts a “further body blow to the UK economy.”
“This grim news of yet more job losses and branch closures will send a shiver down the spine of Lloyds employees, who have worked hard to make the bank a success and deliver excellent customer service against a backdrop of continual uncertainty.
“There is a real danger that customer service will suffer and access to banking for numerous communities will be damaged because of this latest round of savage cuts.
“Over the coming days and weeks Unite will be in talks with Lloyds to understand the announcement in detail, pressing it for guarantees over compulsory redundancies and warning it against cutting too far too fast.”
