Lloyds looks to move 1,900 staff to IBM to cut costs

Lloyds Banking Group plans to move about 1,900 staff to IBM in a restructuring plan aimed at reducing costs but which could see the bank`s security weakened, according to a trade union.

Lloyds Trade Union said in a newsletter to staff on Sunday that the transferred employees would be kept on for a year, but most would lose their jobs after four years. 

The union said the move could weaken the bank`s "existing security controls" and impact on the confidentiality of customer data. 

Chief Executive Officer Antonio Horta-Osório is looking to shed thousands of jobs to streamline the business, support dividend payments and boost the share price as the government prepares to sell down its remaining stake in the bank this year.

Lloyds said in a statement that it does not comment on speculation and, if any decisions are made, they are communicated to colleagues first. 

The planned moves were first reported by the Financial Times. 

In January, Lloyds was hit with a cyber attack that caused intermittent outages to customers of its personal banking websites, a source familiar with the matter said at the time as banks continue to look at ways to improve online security after a series of incidents over the past few years.