Horta-Osorio to sound a sunnier tone for Lloyds
LLOYDS chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio will detail a plan to lead investors to “a better place” for the bank when he unveils a strategic review on Thursday.
Horta-Osorio will depart from the more moribund tone of late, which has seen him accused of “kitchen-sinking” the bank’s results and being overly conservative in provisions for losses.
The shift in style will cheer investors, who have seen the value of their shares sharply eroded since Horta-Osorio took over. “Investors have got a bit jaded with the way he’s been knocking the stock,” said one analyst.
The bank is also due to unveil some 15,000 of job cuts, which will be concentrated in layers of middle management left over from Lloyds’ merger with Halifax Bank of Scotland. “It will come from the back office, not the branches,” said a source familiar with the situation, adding that the aim is to cut down on duplication of roles.
Horta-Osorio will also boost the £2bn in cost-cutting measures already announced to instead make £3bn of savings this year.
Despite the optimism, however, the bank will also reassess some of its targets, with analysts keenly awaiting an announcement on net interest margins. The current target of 2.5 per cent is thought to be unrealistic given the actual figure of 2.07 per cent in March.