Cable slams Lloyds plans to slash its small business advisers

Business Secretary Vince Cable said he was 'disappointed' to hear news that Lloyds Banking Group was cutting almost a quarter of its small business advisers.He is said to be "very angry" and will demand an explanation from the bank's boss Antonio Horta-Osorio on why he wants to cut 600 of its 2,700 small and medium enterprise (SME) advisers. "I'm very surprised and disappointed to see the news that Lloyds has announced these cuts that strike at the heart of these important commitments and put its focus on small businesses at risk," Cable told the Financial Times. Lloyds said it remained committed to offering the "best possible service to our SME clients" and had to reorganise the division as more people turned to telephone and internet banking.The lender also intends to slash 1,080 jobs in its retail, risk and operations and commercial banking divisions and to outsource an extra 310 roles. The cuts come as part of a 2011 plan to scale back 15,000 jobs. Shares rose 1.73% to 83.51p at 16:09 on Thursday.RD