TWOof Britain’s biggest banks came under fire from unions yesterday after announcing plans to cut thousands more jobs in the industry.

Lloyds Banking Group said it will lose 15,000 staff by 2014 as part of new chief executive Antonio Horta- Osorio’s strategic review, while HSBC said it will cut 700 roles.

Unions said they were “flabbergasted”

by the day’s job losses and accused the banks of finding “any excuse” to cut them.

The latest cull at Lloyds will bring total job losses to nearly 45,000 since it was formed in 2009 when Lloyds TSB and HBOS merged.

Lloyds Banking Group has 104,000 full-time staff worldwide.

In the UK, it has main offices in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast among others.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: ‘Staggering’ cuts

THE SCALE of job losses announced by Lloyds Bank, is quite staggering and an indication of just how far this bank has still to go to get back on track.

The move to shed 15,000 jobs is part of the search for savings in the region of £1.5 billion needed every year over the next few years.

It comes on top of the 27,500 jobs already lost since the bank merged with HBOS two years ago.

Whatever the strategic reasons behind the move, which the bank maintains will not lead to the closure of UK branches, it is bound to have a major effect on the already struggling British economy.

And given that it was announced on the day hundreds of thousands of public servants were out on strike over proposed cuts to their pensions, it is another example of the financial dire straits we are all facing.