THE FUTURE of Lloyds and Bank of Scotland workers in Dunfermline could be under threat as the banking group announced 9000 jobs would be cut over the next three years.

There are two Bank of Scotland branches in Dunfermline, on Bothwell Street and East Port, as well as the huge centre at Pitreavie Business Park, and employees have yet to be offered assurances that their jobs will not be affected by the huge cuts.

Lloyds confirmed that 200 branches will close, although it also plans to open 50 new ones.

The closures will begin to come into effect from 2015 and will take place over a three-year period.

The fact that there are two Bank of Scotland branches only half a mile apart in Dunfermline makes it likely that one of them will close, according to Lloyd’s own criteria.

However, when contacted by the Press, Lloyds could not confirm or deny whether the branches and jobs in Dunfermline would be affected.

“We do not have the detail of the specific branches that we will be closing currently, we are still going through the process of identifying them,” they said in a statement.

“Our focus will be on areas where there are overlaps of branches in urban locations – we still have situations where there are two banks of the same brand in medium-size towns, these are the types of branches we will focus on first.

"There is no specific regional focus – we will base our decisions on where customers want us to be, so they can do business with us.

“Our colleagues and customers will be the first to know when we have concrete plans on a site by site basis.”