British bank Lloyds axes another 3,000 jobs

British bank Lloyds will axe 3,000 more jobs by 2017, it said Thursday, as it braces for the Bank of England’s widely-expected post-Brexit interest rate cut next week.

Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) has decided to extend its restructuring plans with the closure of 200 branches and 3,000 jobs by the end of next year, it revealed in an interim results statement.

That takes the total jobs cull in the current restructuring programme– which was announced in 2014 — to 12,000 positions.

The BoE is meanwhile expected to cut interest rates in one week’s time to a record-low 0.25 percent in response to Brexit uncertainty — which Lloyds admitted had taken a toll on the economy.

“As a result of changing customer behaviours and the expected lower for longer interest rate environment, the scope of the (restructuring) programme … has now been extended to include the closure of a further 200 branches and further role reductions of 3,000 by the end of 2017,” LBG said in the earnings release.

The lender, which has been returned almost fully to the private sector after a state-bailout during the 2008 financial crisis, also lifted the programme’s cost savings target to £1.4 billion, up from £1.0 billion.

LBG added Thursday that net profits, or earnings after taxation, had doubled to £1.3 billion ($1.7 billion, 1.5 billion euros) in the first half of 2016, but warned over the impact of Brexit.

That was sharply up from £874 million a year earlier, when its performance was blighted by vast provisions for the mis-selling of credit insurance, or payment protection insurance (PPI).

“We have delivered a good financial performance in the first half with robust underlying profit, a doubling of statutory profit and strong capital generation, along with continued progress on our strategic initiatives,” added chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio.

He admitted however that Britain’s shock EU exit referendum on June 23 would weigh on the outlook.

“Following the EU referendum the outlook for the UK economy is uncertain and, while the precise impact is dependent upon a number of factors including EU negotiations and political and economic events, a deceleration of growth seems likely.

“The UK, however, enters this period of uncertainty from a position of strength, following continued private sector deleveraging, significantly improved mortgage affordability and low levels of unemployment.”

The British government bailed out Lloyds at the height of the financial crisis at a cost of some £20 billion, handing the state a 43-percent stake in the bank.

It has since reduced its holding to around 9.0 percent after numerous share sales.