High street banks braced for more job cuts

Further job losses in the banking sector are on the way, a report said today, after the eurozone debt crisis, compensation costs and higher taxes slashed the combined profits of the UK's five biggest banks.

Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, RBS and Standard Chartered made combined pre-tax statutory profits of £19.4bn in 2011, down 13 per cent on the previous year, KPMG said in its UK Banks: Performance Benchmarking Report.

The costs associated with the payment protection insurance mis-selling scandal, which amounted to a combined £5.7bn, and the £1.3bn bank levy charge have held back bank's financial performance, KPMG said.