Lloyds may cut 15,000 jobs in costs drive: Paper

Britain's Lloyds Banking Group could cut up to 15,000 jobs as part of a new 1 billion pounds (USD 1.6 billion) cost-saving plan, according to a report in the UK's Sunday Times newspaper.

The report said whole layers of management would be stripped out of the bank, with hundreds of jobs likely to go at its head office and thousands of posts to be cut across Britain and in its remaining international outposts.

Lloyds, which is about 41% owned by the government, last week said it would axe 300 jobs across its retail, wholesale and wealth units. It has shed 27,000 jobs over the last two years, as it continues an integration programme following its 2008 takeover of troubled lender HBOS.

Lloyds is due to announce the results of a strategic review later this month, which may outline further cost-saving initiatives and possible asset sales.

A Lloyds spokesman told Reuters the report was "entirely speculative" and that the bank would announce the conclusions of its strategic review on June 30.

Lloyds Chief Executive Antonio Horta-Osorio told British politicians last week that the strategy review would be "evolutionary rather than revolutionary."

Lloyds is in the process of selling 632 branches to meet European Union competition rules, but Britain's finance ministry wants advance knowledge of how many bank branches it should sell to boost competition.