Oct 29 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Financial Times. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Headlines Lloyds axes 200 branches and 9,000 jobs (http://on.ft.com/1wEEotA)

Migration policy hurts competitiveness, minister says (http://on.ft.com/1FTHHl9)

Chance of imminent rate rise recedes as BoE chief advises caution (http://on.ft.com/1wACR6Y)

UNICEF criticises UK over child poverty (http://on.ft.com/1DYMLTl)

Overview

Lloyds Banking Group Plc will cut more than 9,000 jobs and shut 200 of its 2,253 branches, it revealed on Tuesday as it seeks to strengthen its future as Britain's leading retail bank with a major digital transformation focussing on slashing costs and closing branches.

Britain's skills and equalities minister Nick Boles has become the first conservative minister to suggest the government's immigration approach is damaging Britain's global competitiveness.

Another member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee, Jon Cunliffe argued on Tuesday for rates to remain at their record low indicating lower possibility of the UK interest rate to rise in the near future.

The number of British children who live in poverty has shot up to more than one in four since the start of the recession, following government austerity measures and benefit cuts, an UNICEF report said.

(Compiled by Aurindom Mukherjee; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)