Lloyds to help fraud victims

Lloyds Banking Group is to start making compensation offers to victims of fraud at the hands of former HBOS staff next month.

The group, whose brands include Bank of Scotland, has also appointed a retired High Court judge to probe its handling of the affair.

Lloyds expects payouts to total around £100million.

Redress offers will be made from late May onwards, with payments starting in June.

Dame Linda Dobbs has been appointed as an independent legal expert to “consider whether the issues relating to HBOS Reading were investigated and appropriately reported to authorities” by Lloyds, following its acquisition of HBOS.

Dame Linda has previously led an investigation into former radio presenter Stuart Hall’s

“She has been chosen for her considerable experience”

conduct at the BBC, which fed into a wider review into Jimmy Savile’s behaviour while at the corporation.

Lloyds said Dame Linda had been chosen for her “considerable experience of working on fraud cases and track record of chairing inquiries”.

Earlier this month, the lender said it would pay compensation for “economic losses, distress and inconvenience” as part of a package of measures to assist victims.

Last month, Lloyds recruited Professor Russel Griggs to spearhead an investigation into whether it should compensate customers who became victims of fraud at the hands of former HBOS staff in Reading.

It came after a group of financiers were jailed for carrying out a £245million loans scam and squandering the profits on prostitutes and luxury holidays.