Virgin Money plans to cut 500 jobs and close 52 branches

LONDON (Reuters) – British challenger bank Virgin Money is planning to cut 500 jobs as it presses ahead with cost-cutting after bulking up through the merger of Virgin Money and Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banking Group in 2018, it said on Wednesday.

The lender also said it would close 22 branches and consolidate a further 30.

The move comes after union Unite said earlier on Wednesday that staff at Britain’s biggest domestic bank Lloyds had been told it planned to axe 780 jobs.

(Reporting by Iain Withers; Editing by Jan Harvey)