(Photo: Reuters)
(Photo: Reuters)

Lloyds Banking Group is axing 550 jobs across the risk, insurance, commercial banking, retail and wealth, asset finance and international divisions as part of its strategy to reduce costs by 2014.

According to an emailed statement to the IBTimes UK from Lloyds, the redundancies are part of the group's strategic review which aims to strengthen the state-controlled bank's capital base by cutting 15,000 jobs by 2014.

"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," the statement said. "Where it is necessary for employees to leave the company, it will look to achieve this by offering voluntary redundancy. Compulsory redundancies will always be a last resort."

"In fact, during 2012, only around a third of the role reductions have led to people leaving the group through redundancy. Lloyds Banking Group is committed to working through these changes with employees in a careful and sensitive way. All affected employees have been briefed by their line manager today. The Group's recognised unions Accord, Unite and LTU were consulted prior to this announcement and will continue to be consulted," the bank added.

The British lender, which is 41 percent owned by the tax-payer, has so far cut more than 30,000 positions and closed a number of overseas units to focus on the UK since its £20bn taxpayer rescue in 2008.

Chief executive officer Antonio Horta-Osorio first announced the review in June 2011.

LLoyds shares were trading at around 51 pence each in London, a 0.26 percent decline on Wednesday's closing price. The government's holding is measured at an average price of 73.6 pence.

London