Britain's Lloyds Banking Group cuts 865 jobs

By Iain Withers

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's biggest domestic bank Lloyds <LLOY.L> is making 865 redundancies, as lenders resume cost-cutting measures while the COVID-19 pandemic hammers the industry's profits.

Lloyds had temporarily stopped job losses and restructuring early in the pandemic, with the commitment running until October.

Union Unite criticised the cuts, which come alongside the creation of 226 new roles.

"Unite is extremely worried about the future prospects of the 860 staff being told that they will lose their jobs during these very challenging times," said Unite national officer Rob MacGregor.

Lloyds confirmed the cuts and said the majority of the roles were non-customer facing and came from simplifying its business.

"These changes primarily reflect our existing plans to simplify parts of our businesses, which were in place prior to Covid-19," a Lloyds spokeswoman said.

"Any colleague impacted by today's announcement will not leave the Group until November at the earliest."

(Reporting by Iain Withers, Editing by Lawrence White)