LAWRENCE Bellamy talks job losses at Lloyds Bank in his latest column.

THE announcement by Lloyds Bank of 180 job losses in Warrington is an inevitability given the continuing changes in the banking industry.

Once banking gave ‘jobs for life’ but changes in the services offered by banks and the impact of technology have reduced sector stability.

The previous banking crisis has been bad for business too, leading to restructuring and downsizing. Service-based sectors often expand easily and contract quickly.

The infrastructure, as in the case of call-centres for banking, can be easily relocated too.

For banking our love of the internet and particularly via the smartphone in the UK is making a big difference.

Many people are just as happy to tap a screen as speak to a person. There are no ‘working hours’ there either, the system is never tired (but can crash!) and management of a computer is much less challenging and costly than managing a team.

For Lloyds this was part of a plan which consolidated their operations. There is a need to be proactive in cutting costs or competitors will do it more quickly, they could argue?

Warrington’s loss is Liverpool’s gain here (Estuary Banks) and at least all the operations didn’t go to India, tough as it is.