Lloyds share price: Lender slashes staff in financial markets unit

Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) has cut staff in its credit sales and trading teams, Reuters has revealed. The part government-owned bank has joined other European lenders in cutting capital markets staff amid a slowdown in the second half of last year which has extended into 2016.

Lloyds’ share price has fallen deep into the red in today’s session, having lost 1.74 percent to 67.13p as of 14:25 BST. The decline is part of a broader selloff in the London market which has seen the benchmark FTSE 100 index shed 1.28 percent to 6,086.05 points so far today. In the year-to-date, Lloyds’ shares have lost 7.96 percent of their value, as compared with a 2.58-percent dip in the Footsie.

A person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters today that Lloyds had cut eight people in its credit sales and trading teams, part of the lender’s financial markets unit. The bank separately confirmed the cuts to the newswire.
“We operate in a highly competitive market so we need to create a simpler, more agile business that can respond swiftly to changing customer needs and requirements,” Lloyds pointed out, adding that it was “working through these changes with employees” and that it remained committed to offering credit markets services to its business customers.
Lloyds, bailed out by the UK government during the financial crisis, joins other lenders in cutting capital markets staff amid tougher regulations which erode profitability of some business areas.
Analysts meanwhile remain mostly positive on the blue-chip lender, with Deutsche Bank, which has a ‘buy’ rating on the stock, setting a price target of 83p on the company today. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated its ‘market perform’ stance on Lloyds with a price target of 80p on Friday, while RBC Capital continues to see the bailed-out lender as an ‘outperform’ with a valuation of 95p.
As of 15:08 BST, Tuesday, 05 April, Lloyds Banking Group share price is 66.97p.