Lloyds jobs cull includes marketers

More than forty “marketing-related jobs” will go as part of the latest Lloyds Banking Group staff cull, according to sources.

Lloyds

Over the next three years the newly formed bank will be cutting 2,100 jobs across the company, which will take the overall tally to 7,000 since January.

Around 700 of the jobs will go through “natural attrition”. Some 350 new roles will also be created, though it’s unsure whether any of these will have a marketing element.

A Lloyds spokeswoman said they were “unable to offer further breakdowns” in terms of either the job cuts or the new roles.

However, a source close to the unions suggested that 42 of the 2,100 being lost are in marketing.

The cuts are the latest backlash from the merger of Halifax Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB late last year to create the new banking behemoth.

In April, the group announced a review of its £65m media accounts for the Lloyds TSB and HBOS brands. The respective incumbents, ZenithOptimedia and Vizeum are repitching alongside OMD and Mediaedge:CIA.

Last month the Group also announced that it is to close all of its Cheltenham & Gloucester branches in November, putting about 1,600 jobs at risk. The group said the C&G brand will remain, adding that it will focus on building the brand’s “significant savings direct, mortgage and intermediary businesses”.

The union Unite said it was “astonished” by the company’s latest announcement, before adding that morale was now “truly low”.

“As a taxpayer supported organisation, real questions need to be asked as to how far this bank can be allowed to go in this systematic slashing of staff,” said Rob MacGregor, Unite national officer. “This loss of over 2,000 jobs marks the largest single job loss announcement since the formation of the Lloyds Banking Group in January.”

Mark Fisher, director at group operations in Lloyds, defended the decision: “By bringing the businesses together we will be better placed for the future. Regrettably, some of our colleagues will be affected by our plans (and) we understand that this difficult news will be unsettling.”