Lloyds Banking Group Plc’ share price up, said to cut thousands of jobs as part of the bank’s strategy to reduce expenses

A person with knowledge of the situation, the biggest mortgage provider in the U.K. – Lloyds Banking Group Plc is planning to cut thousands of jobs, which is considered to be the most significant round of job cuts in at least three years.

This is not the first time when the U.K.-based banking group is forced to eliminate jobs. In 2008 more than 37 000 jobs were cut by Lloyds. Another 15 000 cuts were announced three years ago as a part of the banks strategy to decrease its expenses by £1.5 billion ($2.4 billion).

The person, who asked not to be identified, because the strategy of the lay-offs has not been finalised yet, said that the U.K. bank intends to close some of its branches as part of its efforts to automate its entire business. The dismissals are expected in sectors such as mortgage processing and new account opening. The unidentified source revealed that some of the banks employees could be redirected to new roles instead of losing their job positions.

Lloyds refused to make any comments on the rumours. Its Chief Executive Officer, however, is expected to report an update on his strategy for the bank this autumn. In addition, the banking groups results for the third quarter of the fiscal year are due to be published on October 28th. Earlier in 2014 the bank reported a 32% increase in its profit to £3.8 billion over the first six months of the current fiscal year.

Lloyds Banking Group Plc added 0.13% to trade at GBX 77.35 per share by 14:23 GMT, marking a one year change of +3.26%. The company is valued at £55.14 billion. According to the Financial Times, the 25 analysts offering 12-month price targets for Lloyds Banking Group Plc have a median target of GBX 89.00, with a high estimate of GBX 115.00 and a low estimate of GBX 55.00. The median estimate represents a 15.21% increase from the last price of GBX 77.25.