The jobs losses come in the 41% taxpayer-owned bank's operations, insurance, retail, wealth, international and commercial divisions. They are part of a previously announced plan to shed 15,000 jobs, saving £1.5 billion per year.

The Unite union says that, coming on top of recent job losses in human resources and the Halifax branch network, the latest cuts mean that Lloyds has axed more than 31,000 positions since its creation in 2009.

Commenting on the IT offshoring plans, Unite national officer, Dominic Hook, says: "In the middle of an economic crisis, a bank part-owned by the public, should be keeping jobs in the UK, not exporting them abroad."