Lloyds Banking Group

Lloyds Banking Group is the renamed Lloyds TSB Group, following the acquisition of HBOS in January 2009. It claims to be the largest retail bank in the UK.

33 Old Broad Street, London EC2N 1HZ (next to Tower 42 and opposite the British Bankers' Association and others)

This article is part of the Spinwatch Fracking Portal and project

25 Gresham Street, EC2V 7HN

Financial crisis 2009

Lloyds TSB purchased distressed bank HBOS for £12 billion in January 2009. The BBC reported in September 2008: "The deal was negotiated at the very highest level, with Prime Minister Gordon Brown telling Lloyds TSB chairman Sir Victor Blank that it would be helpful if Lloyds could end the uncertainty surrounding HBOS by buying it."

The government was also forced to bail out Lloyds - it is 43 per cent government owned. The Group announced in February 2009 that it expected losses of nearly £11bn for 2008 at HBOS.

Conflicts and criticisms

Tax avoidance

In 2011 a report by Action Aid revealed that the UK's big four high street banks were by far the heaviest users of of tax havens - 1,649 tax haven subsidiaries between them and more than half of all their 3,067 overseas subsidiaries.

Lloyds has 97 companies in the Channel Islands of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.

Libor-fixing scandal

After the three-year investigation into claims that Barclays and other banks attempted to inflate and suppress Libor, Lloyds Banking Group is the latest British bank to be probed by US authorities, after Florida's state regulator summoned the bank to answer questions on rate rigging. Shortly before, the attorney generals of New York and Connecticut issued similar subpoenas to seven banks, including Britain’s HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays.

"A co-ordinated effort from three US states could see Lloyds, HSBC and RBS locked in prolonged and highly expensive lawsuits for years to come."

The investigations on the named banks are ongoing.

EU lobbying

Lloyds were the top spending British based company on EU lobbying in Brussels in 2014, spending between €1,750,000 and €2,000,000.

PR and lobbying

Internal

• Mark Lidiard, Group comms director. Joined in February 2008 from mining firm BHP Billiton.
• Michael Oliver, Director of investor relations
• Leigh Calder & Amy Mankelow, Senior managers, media relations

Present

• Connect Public Affairs Ltd
• Cohn and Wolfe Ltd as at February 2016.

2011-12

• Hanover Communications - from December 2011
• Cicero Consulting
• College Public Policy
• Burson Marsteller

• Fleishman-Hillard in Brussels held the European public affairs brief from 2010, but this was reviewed in February 2012, with Lloyds asking four agencies to pitch in a procurement-led process, which included an online auction where cost would be a defining factor according to PR Week:

The pitch comes at a time when the taxpayer-backed bank faces increasing pressure to cut costs. It reported losses of £3.5bn for 2011 on 25 February. It blamed the losses on compensating customers for mis-sold payment protection insurance and the upheavals in the eurozone. Fleishman reportedly withdrew from the process.

2011

• Cicero Consulting

2008

• Citigate Dewe Rogerson Public Policy, public affairs account
• Finsbury, conducts financial PR for Lloyds
• Brunswick, advised HBOS on the takeover by Lloyds

Revolving Door

• Sir Philip Hampton, former CEO of UK Financial Investments Ltd, was Group Finance Director of Lloyds TSB from 2002 to 2004.
• U.K. Life Peer Alexander Leitch, Lord Leitch of Oakley, has been a Director of Lloyds TSB plc since 2005.
• Sir David Manning, former Ambassador to Washington from 2003 to 2007, was appointed a Non-executive Director at Lloyds TSB Group plc in May 2008.
• U.K. Hereditary Peer John Palmer, 4th Earl of Selborne, was Director of Lloyds Bank Plc 1994-95 and Lloyds TSB Group Plc from 1995 to 2004.

People

• António Horta-Osório, Group Chief Executive: Joined the Board on 17 January 2011 as an Executive Director and became Group Chief Executive on 1 March 2011. Worked for Goldman Sachs in New York and London. In 1993, joined Grupo Santander as Chief Executive of Banco Santander de Negocios Portugal and then became Chief Executive Officer of Banco Santander Brazil. Formerly a Non-Executive Director of the Court of the Bank of England.
• George Culmer, Group Finance Director: Joined the board on 16 May 2012. Between 2004 and 2012, George was a director and Chief Financial Officer of RSA Insurance Group plc. His previous roles included Head of Capital Management of Zurich Financial Services and Chief Financial Officer of its UK operations. Prior to that he held various senior management positions at Prudential.

• Sir Winfried Bischoff, Chairman: Joined the Board and was appointed Chairman in September 2009. Previously Chairman of Citigroup Inc. from December 2007 to February 2009.
• David Roberts, Deputy Chairman: Joined the Board on 1 March 2010. Executive Director, member of the Group Executive Committee and Chief Executive, International Retail and Commercial Banking at Barclays until December 2006. Joined Barclays in 1983 and held various senior management positions, including Chief Executive, Personal Financial Services and Chief Executive, Business Banking. Was also a Non-Executive Director of BAA until June 2006 and a Non-Executive Director of Absa Group Limited, one of South Africa's largest financial services groups, until October 2006.
• Lord Blackwell: Joined the board on 1 June 2012 and became Chairman of Scottish Widows Group on 1 September 2012. Chairman of Interserve plc, a non-executive director of Ofcom and of Halma plc and a member of the board of the Centre for Policy Studies.
• Carolyn Fairbairn: Joined the board on 1 June 2012. A non-executive director of The Vitec Group plc and a member of its Audit, Nominations and Remuneration Committees. She served as a non-executive director of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) between 2008 and 2011 and was Chair of the FSA’s Risk Committee from 2010 - 2011. She has also been a partner at McKinsey & Co. and a policy adviser in the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit.
• Anita Frew: Joined the Board on 1 December 2010.
• T. Timothy Ryan, Jr.: Joined the Board in March 2009. President and Chief Executive of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. A former Director in the Office of Thrift Supervision, US Department of the Treasury.
• Martin A. Scicluna: Joined the Board in 2008. Chairman of Deloitte UK from 1995 to 2007 and a member of the Board from 1991 to 2007.
• Anthony Watson: Joined the Board in April 2009.
• Sara Weller: Joined the Board on 1 February 2012.

Former directors

• Sir Victor Blank, Chair
• Eric Daniels, CEO
• Lord Leitch, non-exec director
• Sir David Manning, non-exec director. Joined the board on 01 May 2008. Entered the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1972 and held senior appointments, including HM ambassador to Israel between 1995 and 1998, foreign policy adviser to the Prime Minister from 2001 to 2003 and HM ambassador to the USA from 2003 to 2007. A non-executive director of BG Group and Lockheed Martin UK Holdings.

Contacts

Address:

London HQs:

25 Gresham Street,

London EC2V 7HN;

33 Old Broad Street

London EC2N 1HZ

Website:

http://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com

References

• ActionAid, Addicted to tax havens: The secret life of the FTSE 100, October 2011, accessed 10 October 2012.
• APPC, APPC Register Entry for 1 Dec 2011 to 29 Feb 2012, accessed 13 October 2012.
• APPC, APPC Register Entry for 01 Sep 2011 to 30 Nov 2011, accessed 10 October 2012.
• APPC, APPC Register Entry for 1 September 2008 to 30 November 2008, accessed 13 October 2012.
• BBC, "Lloyds TSB seals £12bn HBOS deal," BBC News, 17 September 2008, accessed 13 October 2012.
• BBC, "No 10 rules out Lloyds bank move," BBC News 16 February 2009, accessed 13 October 2012.
• Davies, Rob, "Lloyds is latest bank to be engulfed by rates scandal as U.S. state demands evidence," Daily Mail 17 August 2012.
• INSEAD, Meet Sir Philip Hampton MBA'81, Chairman, J. Sainsbury plc & Chairman, The Royal Bank of Scotland, March 2009, accessed 01 February 2011.
• Lloyds Banking Group, Directors, accessed 13 October 2012.
• Lloyds Banking Group, Non-Executive Directors, accessed February 2009.
• Lloyds TSB, Group Information > Directors, accessed 26 March 2009
• Luker, Sara, "Lloyds Banking Group reviews EU-level public affairs brief," PR Week 29 February 2012, accessed 07 June 2012.
• PR Week, "Banking industry Insider's Guide: UK banks' reputation managers," 03 Oct 2008, accessed 07 June 2012.
• Telegraph, "Libor scandal: Lloyds Banking Group summoned by US regulators," 17 August 2012, accessed 13 October 2012.
• Who's Who 2009, LEITCH, online edition, Oxford University Press, accessed 24 March 2009.
• Who's Who 2009, SELBORNE, online edition, Oxford University Press, accessed 24 March 2009.