Lloyds Banking Group plans to cut around 1,600 jobs from its branches as more customers choose to do their banking online. The move comes as the group claims that more than 21 million of its customers prefer to bank via online or mobile channels. Lloyds will eliminate roles at its branches as part of a restructuring effort, although there will be no role reductions for junior staff and the bank will offer voluntary redundancies “in some situations”. The group plans to introduce over 830 new roles within its consumer relationships business.
HSBC has been fined £57.4m by the UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) for what the regulator describes as “historic depositor protection failings”. The PRA claims that HSBC failed to properly implement the requirements of the Depositor Protection Rules over many years. The bank did not correctly identify deposits eligible for protection and did not have sufficient oversight of its governance procedures. The £57.4m fine was reduced from an initial total of £96.5m due to HSBC’s cooperation throughout the investigation.
PayPal has announced that it will cut around 9% of its workforce over the course of 2024 in an effort to streamline its business. The job cuts are expected to affect around 2,500 employees and will be made through direct reductions and the elimination of open roles. PayPal CEO Alex Chriss stated that the cuts will allow the company to reduce complexity and duplication and enable it to deliver for its customers and drive profitable growth.
Santander has appointed Petri Nikkilä, a former ING executive, as the new CEO of its digital bank offering, Openbank. Nikkilä will also be responsible for leading the non-auto consumer business and the buy now, pay later business of Santander’s Digital Consumer Bank unit. He will take up the role in May and will succeed Ezequiel Szafir, who left in December after nine years as CEO of Openbank.
NatWest’s digital-only bank for small businesses and the self-employed, Mettle, has named Michelle Prance as its new CEO. Prance, who joined NatWest in 2021, previously served as the group director for customer and colleague journeys. Mettle offers a range of services to small businesses, including a free business bank account and a variety of accounting and tax tools.
