Lloyds Banking Group revealed a £100 million (€116.7 million) compensation scheme on Friday for victims of a fraud, for which six people were jailed this year, as Britain’s financial watchdog reopened an inquiry into the case.
Britain's biggest mortgage lender has been under pressure to compensate the victims at its HBOS business, who say it reacted too slowly to their complaints, and will hope that this will draw a line under the controversy.
“We would like to express our deep regret and apologies to any customers directly affected by the criminal behaviour of these individuals,” chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said.
Lloyds said in a statement it would provide interim payments on a case-by-case basis, and appoint an independent lawyer to consider whether it properly investigated at the time.
Distress
Lloyds, whose shares had fallen 0.8 per cent in early trading against a 0.3 per cent fall in the S&P European banks index , said the compensation was to cover economic losses, distress and inconvenience caused by the fraud.
Many of the businesses involved went into liquidation, resulting in job losses and financial hardship as a result of the scam.
– Reuters
