LLOYDS Banking Group will signal thousands more job cuts this week as part of a drive to save an extra £1bn a year in costs.

It has been reported that as many as 15,000 posts could go under the plan, which will be unveiled by new chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio on Thursday.

The latest blow to staff at the group, which is 41% owned by the taxpayer, adds to the estimated 27,500 jobs that have been lost since the group’s creation from a controversial merger between Lloyds TSB and HBOS in early 2009.

The savings – on top of the £2bn a year already being achieved following the HBOS takeover – are likely to focus on stripping away layers of management and lead to hundreds of job losses at its London head office.

Mr Horta-Osorio, the Portuguese-born banker who took the top post in March after being poached from rival Santander, is expected to prune the bank’s overseas interests but will pledge to revive the Halifax brand and keep the Scottish Widows insurance arm, it has been reported.

He will also reveal that Lloyds is on course for an early exit from the Bank of England’s special liquidity scheme, which was set up in 2008 as a lifeline for banks battling to raise finance during the credit crunch.