Lloyds Banking Group is transferring hundreds of skilled technology positions from the UK to India as part of a major overhaul of its IT operations, resulting in nearly half of its engineering workforce being based outside Britain by the end of 2025.

The British bank plans to employ 4,000 permanent staff in technology and data roles in India by year-end, according to an internal presentation seen by the Financial Times. These employees will be based at a technology centre in Hyderabad that opened in 2023, with the bank recruiting for highly skilled positions including full-stack, cloud and quality engineers.

This expansion comes as Lloyds, which markets itself with the tagline "Helping Britain Prosper", conducts a review of its UK IT department that has put 6,000 jobs at risk. While the bank intends to create 1,200 new high-skilled technology positions as part of the restructuring, existing staff must apply for these roles through a competitive selection process scheduled to conclude later this month.

"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," said Ron van Kemenade, chief operating officer at Lloyds, in a letter to employees last month.

Mark Brown, general secretary of BTU, an independent union at Lloyds, criticised the bank's strategy as "breathtaking hypocrisy" and called for a commitment to train homegrown IT specialists through apprenticeships.

"They are doing the exact opposite of helping Britain prosper," Brown stated.

The move follows similar strategies by other UK financial institutions, with NatWest employing over 17,000 staff in Bengaluru and Gurugram, while Nationwide has also transferred some IT operations to India.

Lloyds' restructuring forms part of a broader £4 billion investment programme led by chief executive officer Charlie Nunn, aimed at boosting revenues from areas less dependent on interest rates while reducing costs. The bank has already announced plans to cut 500 jobs this year across various departments, close two offices and shut 136 branches across the UK.

In response to the reports, Lloyds acknowledged the impact of its transformation: "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."

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