BANKING giant Lloyds’ Chester office will gain 340 new roles after plans to shed 2,600 jobs across the UK by the end of 2010 were announced.

Changes within group operations, insurance and retail divisions means about 5,000 job roles will be affected in total although many of these will be redeployed.

Conversely in their Chester office there will be a net increase of 340 roles in our Group Operations following this afternoon’s announcement.

Spokesman Alex Barnett said: “We plan to consolidate our collections and recoveries teams in Chester including moving roles from other parts of the country leading to an increase of around 380 roles in Chester by the end of 2010. “These colleagues will be based at Charterhall House.

“Whilst there may also be some role reductions as well in Chester for which we do not yet have the detail, we still expect the overall impact from this announcement to be more than 340 role increases.

“I should stress again that Chester remains an important location for the Group with a range of business units from several divisions based in the city.

“The 340 figure represents the largest gain in the country as a result of today's announcement.”

Mark Fisher, group integration director, of Lloyds Banking Group said: “Today marks another important step in bringing our businesses together.

“In addition, our commitment is to keep colleagues fully informed about our integration plans.

“We will continue to work closely with our colleagues affected by today's announcement to help them through these changes over the coming year.

“We have mitigated the impact on positions through redeployment and the release of contractors and temporary staff.”