£25m court bill for Lloyds
Bank to foot costs for ex bigwigs
TAXPAYER-saved Lloyds is set to shell out up to £25million in legal fees to fight a payout to shareholders.
The bumper bill includes lawyers’ costs for five former bosses who oversaw its disastrous takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland at the height of the financial crisis in 2008.
Among those it is picking up the legal tab for is ex-chief executive Eric Daniels, who is separately suing the bank for hundreds of thousands of pounds in withheld bonuses.
The move emerged on the eve of a High Court trial in which around 6,000 Lloyds’ shareholders are seeking £600m in damages.
The £25m is the maximum cost for Lloyds to cover the 14-week hearing.
Daniels is listed as a defendant in the case along with former chairman Sir Victor Blank, Lloyds’ finance boss at the time Timothy Tookey, Helen Weir, then head of its retail bank, and Truett Tate, who ran its wholesale arm.
It is claimed important information about the rescue of HBOS was concealed prior to the deal, including the existence of “secret” loans from the Bank of England and America’s Federal Reserve.
Shareholders claim they lost a packet from a slump in Lloyds’ share price and the axing of dividends.
All five defendants, along with Lloyds Banking Group, deny the allegations.
A Lloyds spokesman said: “The group’s position remains that we do not consider there to be any merit to these claims and we will robustly contest this legal action.”
The Lloyds Shareholder Action Group said: “We will finally have our day in court after nearly 10 years and expose the injustice done to Lloyds TSB shareholders who were duped into rescuing a defunct HBOS.”