The chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group has become the latest banking boss to relinquish his annual bonus, putting mounting pressure on HSBC chiefs to follow suit.
Eric Daniels will waive an annual payout of £2.3m – the second year in a row he has declined a bonus.
Only last week, Barclays chief executive John Varley and president Bob Diamond and the Royal Bank of Scotland’s chief executive Stephen Hester shunned their annual award payouts.
In a statement, Lloyds chairman Sir Win Bischoff said Daniels had taken the decision because he believes that the excellent progress the group is making is in danger of being obscured by the current debate on executive bonus awards in the banking sector.
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He added: “We are, of course, mindful of the ongoing public debate on the issue of bonuses in the banking sector. We believe that it is appropriate that our colleagues receive appropriate financial recognition when our stretching performance targets, which include both financial and non-financial measures, are met.
“In our case, as a retail and commercial bank, our overall allocation under the annual bonus schemes represents a very small percentage of revenues.”
