A warning has been issued to anyone who is banking with three high street banks in January. Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers have been warned over a swathe of branch closures as we head beyond Christmas and New Year.
Lloyds Banking Group will allow its Halifax, Lloyds and Bank of Scotland customers to use any of its branches across the three brands, fuelling union concerns that the UK lender is preparing to shut hundreds of locations and axe more jobs.
In a memo to staff laying out priorities for the year, Lloyds’ consumer relationship chief Jayne Opperman said the group needed to “evolve how [it] supports customers” in physical branches even as “more people are choosing mobile over any other way to bank”.
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“That’s why — from later this year — we’ll make it possible for customers to use any of our Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland branches, regardless of the brand they bank with, giving them access to the UK’s biggest combined branch network,” she added.
Mark Brown, general secretary of BTU, an independent union at Lloyds, said the main driver of the decision was “to make it easier for Lloyds to close more branches and save more money” rather than improving customer experience.
“We estimate that Lloyds will be able to close 233 branches at the virtual drop of a hat, with thousands of staff losing their jobs,” he added. Lloyds said it was “always looking for ways to make banking easier and more flexible for our customers”.
“I know change can feel daunting, but when we embrace it, we create better outcomes for both our customers and colleagues,” Opperman added. Lloyds’ strategy under chief executive Charlie Nunn has been to “deepen its relationship” with customers, the Financial Times newspaper has also reported this week.