Lloyds Banking Group is hiring hundreds of IT engineers in India while planning to cut a similar number of jobs in the UK, a shift that will leave nearly half of its engineers based outside its home market by year-end.
The British bank aims to have 4,000 permanent employees working in technology and data in India by the end of the year, according to an internal presentation seen by the Financial Times. A source familiar with the plans confirmed this would represent almost half of Lloyds’ global tech workforce.
These employees will be based at a tech hub in Hyderabad, which opened in 2023 and was described by the bank as a “pivotal moment in our overall transformation journey.” The bank is currently hiring for roles in Hyderabad, including full-stack, cloud, and quality engineers—positions that require highly specialized skills.
The expansion in India coincides with a major restructuring of Lloyds’ IT operations. The bank, which markets itself with the slogan “Helping Britain Prosper,” recently warned 6,000 UK IT employees that their jobs were at risk as it reassessed the “skills required for each critical role in our engineering job families.”
As part of this review, Lloyds plans to create 1,200 new high-skilled tech jobs, though employees will have to apply for these positions through a competitive selection process that concludes later this month.
The bank has not disclosed how many UK roles will be eliminated but has acknowledged that some workers will lose their jobs.
“While many colleagues will transition into these new roles, we do expect some will not secure a role through this change, considering skills, location and reduced demand for certain roles,” Lloyds’ chief operating officer, Ron van Kemenade, wrote in a letter to employees last month.
Mark Brown, general secretary of BTU, an independent union at Lloyds, accused the bank of “breathtaking hypocrisy,” arguing that it was “doing the exact opposite” of helping Britain prosper. He urged Lloyds to invest in training homegrown IT specialists through apprenticeships instead.
Other UK financial institutions have also relocated jobs to India. According to its annual report, NatWest has over 17,000 employees in Bengaluru and Gurugram, while Nationwide has shifted some IT positions there as well.
Lloyds is looking to improve returns by digitizing its operations as part of a broader £4bn investment strategy led by CEO Charlie Nunn. The initiative aims to increase revenue from areas less dependent on interest rates while also cutting costs.
As part of these efforts, Lloyds has already announced plans to cut 500 jobs this year across various departments, including customer service and sustainability. The bank has also confirmed the closure of two offices and 136 branches in the UK.
Lloyds said: “Making changes means not only creating new roles and upskilling colleagues but also saying goodbye to talented people who have been part of the group’s success in the past.”