Lloyds Banking Group PLC is a U.K.-based financial-services group. It provides a range of banking and financial services, primarily in the U.K., to individual and corporate customers. Its main business activities are retail, commercial and corporate banking, general insurance, and life, pensions and investment provision. Lloyds also operates an international banking business in 40 countries. Services are offered through a number of brands, including Lloyds, Halifax Group Ltd., Bank of Scotland and Scottish Widows PLC. In the U.S., Lloyds offers corporate-banking services out of New York and private-banking services in Miami. The latter focuses on Latin American clients.
Lloyds TSB Group PLC was renamed Lloyds Banking Group PLC recently following the acquisition of mortgage lender HBOS PLC. It has received major backlash for the acquisition, leading to Chairman Sir Victor Blank's decision to step down, according to The Wall Street Journal. It acquired billions of pounds of bad loans from the acquisition. In 2008 Lloyds took part in the U.K.’s asset-protection plan. The government stepped in again in 2009 and now has a majority stake in Lloyds.
The banking conglomerate has been trimming staff in the U.K. by the thousands and recently announced plans to shut its Cheltenham & Gloucester PLC branch network as part of a restructuring that will result in the loss of up to 1,660 full-time jobs. It plans to cut another 1,200 positions as it continues to merge operations with HBOS. And its insurance division is cutting 240 permanent roles as it merges its Scottish Widows pensions and Clerical Medical onshore and offshore investment products into a single Scottish Widows brand Lloyds’ banking unit, according to The Wall Street Journal.
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