Lloyds to vet headhunters
LLOYDS Banking Group is set to hold a “beauty parade” for headhunters in the next couple of weeks, as preparations get underway to appoint a successor to chief executive Eric Daniels.
Lloyds – which is expected to confirm to the market that it remains on track to deliver a profit for the full year at its third-quarter results tomorrow – asked executive search firm JCA Group to draw up a shortlist as a “contingency plan” earlier this year, before Daniels resigned. But no candidate was found, despite attempts by Lloyds chairman Sir Win Bischoff to woo ex-trade minister Lord Davies for the role.
Daniels said in September that he would retire in a year’s time, to give Lloyds time to find a successor.
Several of the contenders mooted a month ago have since taken other jobs. Naguib Kheraj, the ex-boss of JP Morgan Cazenove, has joined Lazard, while HSBC finance director Douglas Flint and investment banking head Stuart Gulliver will become the bank’s new chairman and chief executive.
Lloyds is set to report third-quarter earnings tomorrow.
As a rule, the bank does not include figures in its quarterly updates, though analysts are watching for news of the trends in impairment levels, which are expected to continue their decline; the bank’s progress on raising new funds to wean itself off state support; and the rate at which it is shrinking its balance sheet by selling non-core assets.