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Lloyds Bank to slash 3,000 UK jobs as it braces for Brexit interest rate cut

Banking giant Lloyds Banking Group has announced it is cutting 3,000 jobs and closing a further 200 branches as it looks to streamline its business as it braces for an impending interest rate cut.

As part of the bank’s half-year report, released today to the Stock Exchange, Lloyds said that the move is an extension of its efforts to simplify its business as it hunts £1bn of cost savings in light of the seemingly inevitable interest rate cut this summer following the EU referendum.

In a statement it said: “Our cost leadership position is a significant source of competitive advantage and remains a strategic priority. Within the 2015 full year results we announced we were actively responding to lower rates by accelerating cost delivery and targeting further savings.”

The bank anticipates the completion of this new round of ‘streamlining’ by the end of 2017.

It comes after high-street rivals Natwest and RBS raised the spectre of negative interest rates earlier in the week, when the group suggested it may start charging business customers to deposit money in their accounts.

The Bank of England had been widely tipped to lower interest rates to 0.25% or even zero when its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) convened two weeks ago but opted to stay its hand for another month.

However, experts say a rate drop is inevitable this summer as the Bank looks to reignite economic growth and market sentiment following June’s Brexit vote.

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