CONCERNS have been raised for Scottish jobs after Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) announced more than 1,200 roles are to be axed as it plans to shut another 49 branches across the UK.
The banking giant said 1,230 jobs will be cut across its business divisions with its community banking and branch network hardest hit.
It is understood jobs are also going in its retail, insurance and wealth, group services, risk and finance divisions.
Lloyds would not say what the effect would be in Scotland.
It said it hopes to redeploy affected staff where possible, with compulsory redundancies a "last resort".
The group is also creating 925 roles elsewhere in the business and insisted the overall job losses would be 305.
But Unite Scotland has raised concerns about the depths of the cuts.
A spokesman for Unite said: "Unite continues to oppose all job losses and has challenged the senior management to ensure that all those affected by this latest round of announcements are given a clear option to remain working for LBG - where they choose to do so.
"Unite remains adamant that as the Bank continues to see significant improvements in performance and profits - it is totally unacceptable that it persists in putting pressure on those who work for the organisation, by making hundreds more of their fellow workers redundant on a regular basis."
The spokesman added: “The scale of the latest round of closures in Lloyds and Halifax in England and Wales is obviously of great concern with 49 branche earmarked for closure which will put some 300 jobs at risk. As yet the bank has made no proposals to Unite about its network in Scotland. However there is a clear possibility that the same so called rationalisation that is happening in England and Wales in due course could be visited on staff here.”
Lloyds pledged to expand its mobile branch network by another seven to 36 to help offset the branch closures, which are concentrated in England and Wales.
The branches will close across its Lloyds and Halifax banking brands between July and October this year.
The latest closures mean that LBG will have shut 356 branches in less than four years.
In November, LBG announced it was to close another 49 branches, including 11 in Scotland, with the loss of 99 jobs.
Those branch closures include those held by Bank of Scotland, Halifax and Lloyds and added to 100 branches the group earmarked for closure earlier the same years resulting in 200 job losses.
A spokesman for Lloyds said: "These branch closures are in response to changing behaviour and the reduced number of transactions being made in branches."
On the job cuts, he said: "The group's policy is always to use natural turnover and to redeploy people wherever possible to retain their expertise and knowledge within the group.
READ MORE: Lloyds to shut 49 branches and axe almost 100 jobs
"Since 2011, over 90% of role reductions have been achieved through a combination of natural attrition, redeployment and voluntary redundancy.
"Where it is necessary for employees to leave the company, we will look to achieve this by offering voluntary redundancy. Compulsory redundancies will always be a last resort."
The group said the new roles being created comes as part of its pledge to invest £3 billion on technology and training staff under a new three-year strategy.
Lloyds last year said it would shut 100 branches with hundreds of jobs being impacted, while in February, it announced another 465 roles were being cut.
READ MORE: Lloyds accused of 'betrayal' as hundreds of Scottish jobs to be outsourced
The group recently unveiled a 24% surge in bottom line profits to £5.3 billion for 2017 and revealed it handed boss Antonio Horta-Osorio a £6.4 million pay package, up 11% on 2016.
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