PRESS DIGEST - British business - Nov 11

The Times

LLOYDS ANNOUNCES ANOTHER 5,000 JOBS WILL GO

Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) announced it is to axe a further 5,000 jobs in its administration, insurance and mortgage divisions. This will bring the total number of jobs cut to 12,500 since the takeover of HBOS in January. Lloyds said it is targeting synergies of at least 1.5 billion pounds ($2.50 billion) from the merger and has forecast that by the end of the year it will have achieved annualised cost-savings of 750 million pounds. Unite, the union, said the cuts demonstrated "the depth of corporate arrogance within this taxpayer supported bank".

HSBC AND BARCLAYS SUGGEST THE 'BIGGEST JOLT HAS PASSED'

Britain's biggest banks, HSBC (HSBA.L) and Barclays (BARC.L), revealed notable improvements in underlying profits on Tuesday. There is also evidence that the rise in personal and commercial defaults is slowing. Michael Geoghegan, HSBC's chief executive, said that "the biggest jolt has now passed" but expressed concerns about rising unemployment levels in the West. Barclays, meanwhile, now expects bad debts to peak a few months earlier than previously thought. Its statutory pre-tax profit for the first three quarters of 2009 was 4.5 billion pounds, 19 percent lower than last year. HSBC does not disclose profit figures when it announces results.

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