It has been over a month since the Brexit referendum shocked the financial world, however some companies, including UK lenders, have found it harder to adapt to the post-Brexit world than others. The week has been defined by earnings from leading European banks – yesterday, Deutsche Bank’s earnings sent shockwaves through the financial community, warning of deeper cuts to personnel.
Lloyds Banking Group has now found itself in a similar situation, as the Brexit has conspired to bog down the bank’s earnings. To date, UK lenders such as Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered and Barclays have led the charge, leading to thousands of job cuts in the country, mostly relegated to back-office and IT jobs. However, many trading desks have also been winnowed, leading to consolidations or in some cases closed doors.
Last One Out Turn Out the Lights
Across the spectrum of action, perhaps no bank has been more ambitious than Deutsche Bank, which called for the systematic cutting of upwards of 35,000 jobs over the next few years. Other units have been more reserved, instead cleaning house in smaller outfits or at certain facilities. Lloyds has fallen somewhere in between, as it just announced 3,000 more job cuts, as well as shedding $525 million in expenses, following a lackluster Q1 2016.
Per the new influx of pink slips, those keeping track are honing in on a number of roughly 12,000 thus far in cuts. So far, Lloyd's stock has been one of the biggest indicators of investor sentiment in the group, which has plunged almost 50%. With other banks opting to shed expenses, it will be interesting to see if this number swells higher if revenues are not rebounding by Q3 or beyond.
