Cuts at Speke and Chester ‘sad
but inevitable’ consequence of the integration of Lloyds TSB and
HBOS’s operations
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Swingeing job cuts at the motor finance
business of Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) have been announced.
LBG said 200 jobs at Speke and 340 jobs in Chester
would be affected, along with “a salesforce and other smaller
locations”, a spokesman confirmed.
“This change will result in the loss of 910
full-time jobs which affects 985 full and part-time colleagues over
a two-year period,” LBG said.
One motor industry observer described the job
losses as a “sad but inevitable” consequence of the integration of
Lloyds TSB and HBOS’s operations, following the merger of the banks
earlier this year.
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By GlobalDataThe announcement was made after a detailed review
of HBOS’s asset and motor finance operations, completed last year,
which “concluded that the majority of them were no longer
financially viable or core to the business.”
It has subsequently been decided that Black Horse
will be the sole brand of LBG’s point-of-sale dealer finance
operation, with Bank of Scotland Dealer Finance to disappear from
the UK motor finance scene.
LBG will cease to accept new business through Bank
of Scotland Dealer Finance from 1 October, a spokesman
confirmed.
LBG said that it has worked closely with the unions
Unite, Accord and GMB throughout the restructuring process. Natural
turnover and redeployment will be used “wherever possible”, LBG
said, with 240 employees from the asset finance division already
having been transferred to the retail operation at Speke.
All former customers of Bank of Scotland Dealer
Finance will be offered the option to transfer their business to
Black Horse.
“For all intermediaries within the group’s
non-dealer businesses, the group will be offering 30 days to accept
new business from retail customers, and a further 60 days to write
business currently in the pipeline,” LBG added.
Chris Sutton, managing director of the combined
motor and leisure business, said: “This is a significant step
forward for the company which underlines our commitment to the
industry.
“I am very excited by the prospect of bringing
together the UK’s two leading independent finance providers.
Between us we have a deep understanding of the industry and know
what dealers need to help them through these tough times.
“This move gives us a real opportunity to work even
more closely with dealers, cement our already established
relationships and help them to maximise their point of sale finance
income.
“While there will be some changes as we combine the
businesses, for most of our dealers it will be business as usual.
Our intention is to bring all our dealers together under the Black
Horse brand, using Black Horse systems.”
