Staff and shareholder complaints dominate Lloyd’s AGM
Lloyds Banking Group’s board has been handed a letter asking them to act on evidence alleging fraud and to set aside around £3bn in remedial measures.
The document was provided by David Lattie, a minority shareholder and former CID detective, at the bank’s Annual General Meeting (AGM).
Following complaints from other shareholders in the question section of the meeting, Latty said there was a “disconnect” between some bad apples at the bank and the board, offering to act as liaison for victims of the historic fraud.
He said: “I am here today on behalf of at least 100 customers and shareholders of Lloyd’s Bank who have complaints in one form or the other.
“I am a professional investigator, I can tell you that some of the claims you are discussing around Bristol are being revived by the police because they were not properly investigated the first time – and I I can assure you that I have a plethora of criminal cases covered in many of these cases.”
Insiders have seen a copy of the letter submitted to the bank’s Bristol-based Business Support Unit with alleged criminality and “improperties” relating to ‘Op Meadow’ files. It contains details of the 96 victims of fraud and their cases, as well as a leaked Avon and Somerset police report and the opinion of a former police lawyer.
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Latty suggested that the cases could be related to losses of around £3bn based on the information they studied and that “there are a very small minority in senior management who are bad apples”.
He continued “I have identified something, I need your help now to stop it in its tracks”, before asking whether the current board would issue the same commitment that Lord Blackwell made to the police force at the previous AGM. Gave up to work with and “stamped out” cheats.
Current Lloyds president Robin Budenberg responded that he would work with the group and accepted the documentation.
A spokesperson for Lloyd’s Banking Group said: “Concerns regarding a Bristol entity have been raised by third parties on several occasions in the past – in each instance these concerns have been thoroughly investigated by the Group and we have found none evidence to support them.
“These concerns have also been raised with Avon and Somerset Police and they informed us in early 2020 that the information provided to them did not contain evidence of criminal wrongdoing and that there was no ongoing investigation into Lloyds Bank.”
Elsewhere during the question-and-answer session, a former human resources worker at Lloyds complained about redundancies at the bank in recent times, accusing senior employees of a “golden handshake.”
Another complaint came from the owner of a Scottish pub, who claimed that his livelihood was ruined by an enterprise finance guarantee loan, and asked him to meet with the board to settle the matter.
Professor Nigel Harper, a banking professor and HMRC inspector, offered the board’s help in sorting out the issues, saying he has seen “the good, the bad and the ugly that banking has become”.
He accused Lloyds of spending billions on “lawyers fighting the inevitable” and disagreed with the use of potential shareholder capital to pay the fine, saying that “we did not authorize these payments – the penalty is tantamount to a crime”. .
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In response to earlier protests outside the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, where the AGM was being held, Budenberg said the company plans to prioritize its junior employees.
“Our partners, especially those at the more junior level, are affected by the rising cost of living and our 2022 salary budget seeks to prioritize spending for these individuals,” he told shareholders.
“All rewards are determined by the Board’s Remuneration Committee after the utmost careful consideration of our policies against the scorecard.”
Rachael Boothroyd, one of the Unite union members, commented during the meeting: “We would like to know how you can justify paying shareholders £1.4bn below current inflation levels, as they have been since the 1950s. trying to avoid the worst drop in living standards.
Budenberg responded: “I would say the board only took a 1% pay increase.
“We had a pay settlement of 3.6% this year – we focus on people with very low wages so that everyone in the organization gets a pay increase of at least £1,000, which we felt was important given the current circumstances. “
He added: “Obviously, we continue to think about how our employees are performing during this difficult time.”
Boothroid said that a lot of workers are “seeing a £30 to £40 a month increase in their wages which, as we know, leads nowhere near inflation, increased household bills, food expenditure and national insurance increases.” “, and added that “it doesn’t even touch the sides”.
Budenberg said the £399 million that the bank pays as a bonus is less than many other major UK banks.
“However, we know that as we deliver the next phase of our strategy, it is important that we are able to attract and retain talent and reward our partners appropriately,” he adds. “Our bonus rewards are based directly on a percentage of our underlying profit.”
In the provisional results by a shareholder vote, 96% of votes were cast in favor of the company’s remuneration plans for top managers.
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