Lloyds Banking Group plans to move thousands of workers back into a refurbished City base later this year as it focuses on reducing office space.
The Big Four lender said it would reopen its office at 33 Old Broad Street in November following 18 months of renovations.
It is due to house roughly 5,000 staff and will become Lloyds’ new head office.
The move comes amid wider efforts by Lloyds and other financial firms to reduce costly office space amid the rise of working from home following the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2022, the group said it planned to cut its office footprint by 30 per cent over the next two years.
Lloyds said on Thursday that it would permanently leave its office at 125 London Wall next year, meaning it will have three sites in the capital.
In 2021, HSBC announced its aim to reduce its global office space by nearly 40 per cent after the pandemic. The bank is due to leave its iconic Canary Wharf office by 2026 and relocate to a smaller location in the City.
“A vital part of our strategy is having the right spaces in the right places for our people, and our new head office will bring teams together to thrive,” Sharon Doherty, Lloyds’ chief people and places officer, said on Thursday.
Lloyds is also in the process of reducing its overall headcount, with sweeping job cuts as part of its long-term transformation strategy.
The group, which has around 60,000 total employees, launched a multibillion-pound plan in February 2022 to become a “digital leader”.
As part of its shift towards online services, the lender confirmed in January that it would cut around 1,600 jobs across its branch network and create 830 new roles in a “relationship growth” team.
The move followed a review of 2,500 mainly back office jobs at Lloyds.