Staff told this morning that 199 jobs in the banking operations at Lloyds Bank's Pitreavie site are under threat.

MSP Shirley-Anne Somerville said she was "deeply disappointed" after being informed by the bank about the changes ahead.

Lloyds call centre at Dundas House in Rosyth will close next year with all staff, around 570 people work there, transferring to Pitreavie.

Call centre functions at Pitreavie, currently a combination of telephony and banking operations, will be extended as a result.

But banking operations, which employs just over 400 people, will end with around half of the workers moved to different roles within the group and 199 staff informed this morning that they are at risk of redundancy.

Ms Somerville told the Press: "This announcement from Lloyds is very worrying for the individuals involved, and I am deeply disappointed by it.

"Lloyds are an important employer in Dunfermline, and their Pitreavie office in particular has been an important source of local jobs for a number of years.

“I have previously contacted Lloyds seeking assurances that Dunfermline jobs are safe – and they assured me that group policy is to use natural turnover and to redeploy people where possible, in order to retain their expertise and knowledge."

The MSP said most of the staff who have had new roles identified were grade A, generally new starts and those in entry level roles, and those at risk of redundancy were mostly grade B, managers, team leaders and supervisors.

Pitreavie is set to become a retail connect hub and workers who were told this morning their jobs are at risk were given the option of going home and taking time off.

Across the country, Lloyds have announced that 340 jobs are set to be lost although there will be a net increase at Pitreavie, with staff moving from Rosyth and also an office in Dundee.

The Pitreavie site is to become a "centre of excellence" for the group. 

Ms Somerville added: "My focus is fully on Lloyds staff and I have asked for an urgent meeting to discuss their plans to reassure staff in Dunfermline that they will continue to have a job with the company, regardless of what redundancies are made locally.

"I would fully expect Lloyds to do all that they can to support local staff at this time, and to avoid compulsory redundancies.”

A Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson confirmed: “As part of our ongoing implementation to the group’s 2015-17 strategic review, Lloyds Banking Group is today announcing 340 net role reductions as part of the total role reductions already announced as part of this strategy.

"The majority of reductions are within operations and retail divisions.

"The net total is inclusive of 380 new roles that will be created across these business areas.

“This process involves taking difficult decisions, and we are committed to working through these changes in a careful and sensitive way. "All affected employees have been briefed by their line manager today. Accord and Unite were consulted prior to this announcement and will continue to be consulted.

“The group’s policy is always to use natural turnover and to redeploy people wherever possible to retain their expertise and knowledge within the group.

"Where it is necessary for employees to leave the company, it will look to achieve this by offering voluntary redundancy.

"Compulsory redundancies will always be a last resort.”