Which? calls on Lloyds boss to hand back welcome bonus

Leading consumer group Which? has reportedly called on Lloyds Chief Executive Antonio Horta-Osorio to hand back his signing-on bonus in the wake of the infamous PPI mis-selling scandal.

Horta-Osorio was welcomed to the 43% taxpayer-owned bank with £4.6m in shares when he joined in January of last year.

Which? is now putting pressure on the boss to return part of this bonus to reflect the bank's decision, announced on Monday, to clawback bonuses worth a total of £2m from 13 directors as a result of the scandal, according to Sky News.

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On its website the group said: "Since 1998, Which? repeatedly warned banks about PPI mis-selling and the failure of executives to heed these warnings has eroded consumer trust and resulted in big losses for banks.

"If unfair treatment or regulatory breaches result in liabilities for shareholders then bonuses must be clawed back from senior executives. If this doesn't happen, Which? believes the banks will be in breach of the FSA's remuneration code, which requires clawback of bonuses when there has been a 'material failure of risk management'."

Lloyds has had to set aside £3.2bn to cover claims arising from the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI), it's those losses which have prompted the so called "claw back" exercise.

Monday's announcement also revealed that former Lloyds boss Eric Daniels will see 40% of his £1.45m payout, given to him two years ago, clawed back by the bank.

Having welcomed the news, Which? is now calling for more to be done, and has reportedly written to chairs of the remuneration committees calling for them to clawback bonuses handed out to those who were in charge during the scandal.

NR