Lloyds is planning to cut hundreds of permanent IT employees working in the UK, whilst simultaneously hiring IT engineers in similar roles in India.
The Financial Times reported that Lloyds aims to have 4,000 permanent employees working from India this year. The new hires in India will be based in a Lloyds tech centre in Hyderabad that opened in 2023, and will be hiring for highly-skilled jobs.
This shift means that half of the British bank’s engineers will be working outside the UK by the end of 2025.
Lloyds will be conducting a review as part of its restructuring strategy which will create 1,200 high-skilled tech jobs. However, 6,000 UK-based Lloyds employees received a warning in the last month stating that their jobs were at risk because of the review. Their skills will be reassessed and staff will have to apply to the new roles in March.
In a letter to employees last month, Lloyds COO Ron van Kemenade stated: “While many colleagues will transition into these new roles, we do expect some will not secure a role through this change, considering skills, location and reduced demand for certain roles.”
Other UK banks have also outsourced IT employees from India, such as NatWest and Nationwide.
In 2024, Lloyds Banking Group revealed that it will be shutting down 292 branches in 2025, and earlier this year the Group announced the closure of 61 Lloyds, 61 Halifax, and 14 Bank of Scotland branches between May and next March.
Lloyds said in a statement: “Making changes means not only creating new roles and upskilling colleagues but also saying goodbye to talented people who have been part of the group’s success in the past.”