Lloyds Banking Group is planning to cut up to 305 jobs and shut down 49 branches in the UK, as part of its efforts to advance its digital services.

In February, Lloyds announced that it will invest £3bn in the next three years to promote its digital initiatives, which could result in creation of around 925 new jobs.

At present, Lloyds intends to close 49 branches and cut up to 1,230 jobs in different branches. The creation of new jobs under three-plan is minimizing the loss of jobs to 305.

Lloyds has taken the decision to cut jobs as more number of customers in the country are turning to the digital banking.

In January this year, Lloyds, which is the UK’s largest bank, also announced plans to axe 465 roles.

Lloyds Banking Group was established after acquiring HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. The group offers retail banking, commercial banking, insurance and consumer finance services.

Its brands include Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, Halifax, Black Horse, Scottish Widows, MBNA, Lex Autolease , LDC , AMC , Colleys and Birmingham Midshires.

With more than 1,000 high street branches, Lloyds Bank provides a range of financial products and services, including current accounts, savings, mortgages, loans, credit cards, private banking and wealth management services.

Through a network of branches, Bank of Scotland provides services to 2.8 million personal customers and 150,000 commercial customers.

Scottish Widows, which serves more than five million customers, provides life cover, critical illness, income protection, pensions, annuities, savings and investment products.

Birmingham Midshires provides specialist mortgages for buy-to-let and self-build customers through mortgage advisers.

In June 2017, Lloyds acquired British consumer credit card business MBNA from Bank of America subsidiary FIA Jersey Holdings for £1.9bn.

MBNA is said to facilitate 480,000 transactions per day through Visa, Amex and MasterCard terminals. It serves more than three million UK customers and provides over  £9bn of UK prime credit card lending.

Image: Lloyds Banking Group head office. Photo: courtesy of Lloyds Banking Group.