Lloyds Bank bumps up its bonus pool on healthy pre-tax profits
Lloyds Banking Group has boosted its bonus pool, after reporting its statutory pre-tax profits had more than doubled for 2016.
The bank's bonus outcome rose to £392.9m for 2016, up from £353.7m in 2015.
However, Lloyds' bankers could have been in line for more – the lender also revealed today it had skimmed 19 per cent from the total bonus pool to adjust for conduct charges which weighed on results.
Alongside its £4.2bn statutory pre-tax profit, Lloyds also announced today that conduct charges during the year had totaled £2.1bn, including a £1bn addition to its payment protection insurance provision. This was still significantly lower than the £4.8bn in conduct charges the company was hit by the year before.
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Cash bonuses have been capped at £2,000. Anybody who bags a bigger bonus than this will be paid the remainder in shares and subject to deferral and performance adjustment.
"The awards announced today recognise our further progress against our strategic objectives," said the bank's chairman Lord Blackwell. "The progressive return of the group to private ownership, the resumption of dividends since 2014 and our strong capital and balance sheet position are testament to the hard work of all colleagues to transform and simplify our business."
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Chief exec Antonio Horta-Osorio also received a larger annual bonus for the year, rising to £1.2m, up from £850,000 the year before.
However, the bank boss' back pocket might still feel a little lighter, as his overall pay dropped from £8.7m last year to £5.5m this year, thanks to differences in the chief exec's long term incentive plan payout, caused by drops in the bank's share price.