Lloyds to close all Cheltenam & Gloucester branches

9th Jun 2009 08:19

Lloyds Banking is set to axe a further 1,500 jobs and close the branch network of Cheltenham & Gloucester, according to reports this morning.The part-nationalised bank will close all 160 of the Cheltenham & Gloucester's branches across the UK as part of a deep retrenchment programme following the disastrous acquisition of HBOS. That process has seen nearly 3,000 jobs go already.Customers with a Cheltenham & Gloucester mortgage are understood to be able to keep their loans under the brand. The former building society, which was taken over by Lloyds in 1997, specialises in mortgages and savings products.A formal announcement is expected later today.Last week Lloyds announced it was cutting around 510 permanent roles across its UK retail business.Yesterday, Lloyds revealed that 87% of shareholders had taken up their entitlement under a £4bn open offer, enabling it to repay early some £2.6bn to the government.Lloyds made no comment on the C&G closures, but this morning's reports suggested staff were braced for the news.