‘Cheating’ Lloyds boss lectured rivals on setting a good example

THE bank chief who had an alleged affair with a mistress at a work conference in Singapore lectured other business leaders on being ‘simple and boring’ and how to set an example to staff.

In a widely praised speech, Lloyds boss Antonio Horta Osorio, 52, said banking must transform to improve its tarnished image.

He told some of Britain’s leading business figures of the need for higher standards of integrity and a new relationship with the public built on trust. ‘We must recast the banking model,’ he told the audience of business leaders and politicians, including then-Chancellor George Osborne, at CBI Scotland’s annual dinner in Glasgow in 2012.

‘We must remember that the way we see ourselves is not always the way others perceive us. At Lloyds, we will take a zero-tolerance approach to issues of inappropriate conduct, as I have made clear since I joined.’ It was seen as a welcome break from the antics of pre-crisis executives such as Royal Bank of Scotland boss Fred ‘the shred’ Goodwin, who had an affair before losing his job when the bank was bailed out.

The speech was just days before Horta-Osorio (pictured right with his wife Ana) met 45-year-old Dr Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group of universities, with whom he is alleged to have had an affair.

The married father of three now faces allegations of hypocrisy.