LONDON, Nov 30 Reuters Metro Bank on Thursday announced sweeping costcutting plans aimed at bolstering its finances, which could see the British lender lay off 20 of its staff and axe some of its biggest customer perks including sevenday opening hours.

Metro, which this week received shareholder approval for the equity portion of a 925 million pound refinancing and recapitalisation plan backed by Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski, said it expected the cost reduction plan to deliver up to 50 million pounds 63.45 million of savings a year.

Metro Bank39;s shares were up 3.6 by 0927 GMT after publication of the plan, which is due to complete in the first quarter of 2024.

The bank expects to take a lowerthanexpected oneoff restructuring charge of between 10 million pounds and 15 million pounds in 2023.

Metro Bank did not immediately respond to a request for clarification on the precise number of jobs at risk. The lender employs around 4,000 people, according to its latest annual report.

Metro launched in 2010 to challenge the dominance of Britain39;s big banks but hit a string of setbacks, such as accounting errors, leadership departures and delayed regulatory approval for key capital reliefs.

In addition to the jobs cull, the bank, famous for its extensive, centrally located branch network, said it would invest in automation for backoffice operations and improving digital services.

It is also reviewing its sevenday opening and extended store hours and will…