Lloyds Banking Group has reported it made a pre-tax loss of £6.3bn last year as bad debts escalated. The bank, which is 41% owned by the UK taxpayer, made losses of £24m on bad debts – much higher than those reported by RBS on Thursday.
Eric Daniels, Lloyds group chief executive gave up a potential £2.3m bonus, and this was in the wake of the revelation last week that Lloyds has a £200m staff bonus pool.
If Lloyds bonus reciepients qualify for the “payroll Tax” their contribution to the Treasury’s coffers through its tax on bank bonuses could be between £10m and £20m.
In a statement, the bank’s chief executive said that 2009 had been “another challenging year for the financial services industry”, but despite the tough market conditions, the bank’s core businesses had “performed well”.
I guess they are in it for the journey – more like a roller coaster that has yet to hit the up ramp!
