Bank stakes quango looks into Lloyds chief affair

CIVIL servants in charge of the taxpayers’ stake in Lloyds Banking Group have sought reassurances after it was alleged that its married chief executive pursued an affair during a business trip.

UK Financial Investments, which manages the Treasury’s 9 per cent stake, contacted the bank soon after details of Antonio Horta-Osorio’s alleged activities became public.

The quango refused to comment, but a source close to the Treasury said: ‘[UKFI] are satisfied it is not an issue.’

Photographs of Horta-Osorio relaxing with Dr Wendy Piatt at a banking conference in Singapore emerged last week. Dr Piatt is a former adviser to Tony Blair and director general of the Russell Group of universities.

Horta-Osorio spent £3,826 during his six-day stay – including costs relating to his room’s mini bar and two trips to the hotel spa – raising questions over whether he had used his business expenses to fund his time with Dr Piatt.

Lloyds said there had been no breaches of policy and insisted Horta-Osorio was ‘scrupulous in separating personal and business expenses’, but some still fear the media scrutiny could prompt Horta-Osorio to leave Lloyds sooner than expected. Shortly after joining Lloyds in 2011 the Portuguese bank boss was signed off work by doctors for three months to recover from ‘exhaustion and stress’. Shares in Lloyds fell 5 per cent on the day his break was announced, but rose last week despite the media scrutiny of his private life. However Lloyds shares were badly hit by the Brexit vote and at the week’s closing price of 55.4p are still far below the 73p needed for the taxpayer to break even on the 2008 bailout.