Lloyds embraces remote working by cutting space
LLOYDS Bank today said it was preparing for a “permanently changed future” as it embraced working from home and said it would slash office space by 20% over three years.
It reported profits of £1.2 billion for 2020, better than the City expected, and returned to dividends following a ban by the regulator on shareholder payouts as the pandemic bit.
A survey of the 65,000 staff shows 77% keen to work from home at least three days a week, something the bank will back in the latest blow to City centres.
Outgoing CEO Antonio Horta-Osorio said the issue will be “critical” for the choices staff make. To attract and keep the most talented staff, Lloyds will be flexible, offering “sustainable workplace solutions” to “attract and retain a more diverse, skilled and future ready workforce”.
Yesterday HSBC said something similar, though it will retain its huge presence in Canary Wharf.
Lloyds said: “By 2025, we aspire to having 50% of senior roles held by women, three per cent held by Black colleagues and 13 per cent held by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic colleagues.”
It will pay a divi of 0.57p a share, a nice if small cheque for the hundreds of thousands of small investors in the bank. The average small investor with 6000 shares gets a £34.20 dividend.
Mr Horta-Osorio was paid £3.4 million in his last year, down from £4.4 million.
That is his lowest pay since 2012, but does take the total he has received in 10 years to around £55 million.
Lloyds shares have struggled for some time. In the past five years they have fallen 30% compared with a 10% rise in the FTSE 100. Today the stock was up 1p at 40p.
Lloyds profit margin — the gap between what it pays savers and charges borrowers — is at a healthy 2.52%, much higher than smaller rivals can manage.
Impairment charges for bad debts stood at £4.2 billion, lower than the £4.7 billion expected, as loans went bad at a slower pace than feared.
Lloyds is looking to its wealth management arm, a joint venture with Schroders, to provide growth. It says funds at that arm should grow by another £25 billion by 2023.
The bank also said today that new CEO Charlie Nunn will start in August.
Horta-Osorio stands down at the end of April. He said he had “mixed emotions” about leaving to join Credit Suisse.
“I do believe that we are leaving a much better bank than when I joined,” he said. Lloyds was bailed out by the taxpayer as it merged with HBOS in order to prop that bank up.
Lloyds has made government backed loans of £12.4 billion to support customers curing the pandemic, it noted. It wants to cut costs by £7.5 billion.