HBOS is to cut 325 jobs by the end of March next year as it closes one of its specialist mortgage brands.
One arm of HBOS, The Mortgage Business (TMB), will close to new custom at 8pm on 22 August and a mortgage processing centre will also be shut.
Unions described the job losses, which they claim are larger than HBOS has admitted, as a “blow”.
On 31 July, HBOS announced that profits before tax fell 72% in the first six months of the year.
The firm said first-half profits dropped to £848m from £2.96bn in the same period a year earlier.
Job losses
A spokesman for HBOS claimed the move was an attempt to “streamline” the business. The aim was for jobs to be cut through natural turnover and voluntary redundancies.
“We are never happy about any reduction in roles in HBOS even if we understand the commercial logic for the changes” Ged Nichols, Accord
The Unite and Accord unions said closure of the processing centre would affect jobs in Chester, Cardiff and Livingston.
Computer jobs in Edinburgh, Chester and West Yorkshire would also be affected.
“This is a further blow for jobs in the UK financial services sector which is being brought about by the credit crunch and the changing economic climate,” said Graham Goddard, deputy general secretary of Unite.
He added that many workers in the financial services sector earned between £15,000 and £18,000.
“We are never happy about any reduction in roles in HBOS even if we understand the commercial logic for the changes,” said Ged Nichols, of Accord – which is a union for HBOS employees.
HBOS has five mortgage brands – Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Birmingham Midshires, TMB and Intelligent Finance.
TMB tended to specialise in buy-to-let and self-certification mortgages. Customers with an existing TMB mortgage would be unaffected by the changes, HBOS said.
HBOS also added that its specialist offset mortgage provider Intelligent Finance would be concentrating on its core business, with all offset mortgages sold with a requirement to include savings and a current account.
Online banking products from Intelligent Finance, other than savings, would no longer be offered.
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