Lloyds future 'strong and stable' despite job losses

Treasury Minister reacts after more than 100 redundancies

Treasury Minister Alfred Cannan is remaining buoyant about the banking industry after around 120 job losses were announced today.

Lloyds Banking Group confirmed a near third of its Isle of Man workforce were being made redundant following a shift in customer trends.

Mr Cannan says the Island needs to adapt to the times and invest in digitalisation.

He said: "Lloyds have been good enough to engage with us over a number of weeks to tell us that they were intending on restructuring, so we were aware of the situation.

"Obviously in these circumstances my heart goes out to those who are affected."

News broke on Wednesday morning that 135 roles at the company were to be lost, with around 120 of those based on the Isle of Man PhoneBank and Payments Centre.

A statement from Lloyds blamed the increasing use of online or mobile channels.

Alasdair Gardner, Islands Director at Lloyds Bank International, said: "Regrettably change does mean making difficult decisions, and the changes announced today reflect our ongoing plans to continue to make parts of our business more efficient and meet the changing needs of our customers."

The bank insists there will be no immediate customer impact at this time.

Despite the job losses, Mr Cannan is optimistic about the future of the sector.

He continued: "[Lloyds] do see ongoing opportunities in terms of their offshore location, particularly on the Isle of Man.

"They've been a long-term partner of the Island over the last few decades and the future with them looks strong and stable.

"We will see more and more of this digitalisation, government very much recognises that.

"We are trying to invest in terms of improving digitalisation in the Isle of Man and as opportunities fade away other opportunities come along.

"We are still strong."

He spoke to Local Democracy Reporter Chris Cave: