Lloyds makes new pledges on women bosses
Lloyds Banking Group announces new plans which will see 40 per cent of its top 5,000 jobs occupied by women within six years.
The planned increase from the current level of 28 per cent is among a series of commitments being made by chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio.
They also include a pledge to boost net lending to small and medium-sized business by more than £1bn this year and the support of more than 80,000 first-time buyers, up from last year’s target of 60,000.
Mr Horta-Osorio, who will unveil the bank’s Helping Britain Prosper Plan at a speech on Tuesday, said the commitments were an important step in regaining trust in the banking industry.
It comes a few weeks after the group was fined a record £28m over incentive schemes that rewarded staff with “champagne bonuses” and put advisers under pressure to hit sales targets or face demotion.
The group, which was rescued by the taxpayer during the financial crisis after swallowing up Halifax Bank of Scotland, remains 33 per cent state-owned.
Mr Horta-Osorio said: “The reputational impact of the financial crisis upon the banking industry’s stature has been immense.
‘Highest standards’ of behaviour
“Rebuilding a sound reputation founded on the highest standards of responsible behaviour is key to the industry’s long-term success.
“But words alone are not enough to change public perception and regain trust.
“We must be able to provide meaningful commitments and allow ourselves to be independently measured against those.”
The commitments will be independently monitored and reviewed every year.
Further information about the targets will be announced on March 6, when the bank publishes its annual report.
The bank has also pledged to provide a minimum of £100m to its charitable foundations between now and 2020.
The penalty in December from the Financial Conduct Authority came after the regulator uncovered “serious failings” in bonus schemes within Lloyds TSB, Halifax and Bank of Scotland (BoS) that saw frontline staff pick up windfalls even when the products were mis-sold to customers.
The investigation focused on sales of products between January 2010 and March 2012.