Britain's state-controlled Lloyds Banking Group has announced plans to cut 5,000 jobs by the end of 2010, confirming earlier media reports.

"LBG is announcing today a number of changes within its group operations, insurance and retail divisions…These changes mean that the total number of affected roles by the end of 2010 is expected to be about 5,000," the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

LBG — created in January when Lloyds TSB bought rival lender HBOS — has cut about 13,000 jobs this year in an attempt to integrate its wide-ranging businesses.

Group operations, including IT and payment services, will be hit the hardest — with about 2,820 job losses.

Lloyds is struggling to meet its target of saving £1.5 billion ($2.5 billion) in costs from the merger, The Wall Street Journal quoted a spokesman as saying.

Lloyds said it was focusing on redeploying some British personnel. It added that while temporary staff and offshore workers would be at much higher risk of a layoff, 'there will be a net reduction of about 2,600 permanent jobs across the UK by the end of 2010'.

The British government, which has a 43-percent stake in the banking group, helped broker January's deal to take over HBOS and bailed out the company during the global financial crisis.

LBG cut about 33,400 finance-related jobs last year, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

ZHD/AKM