Lloyds bank boss takes 28% pay cut after bank's profits fall – The Guardian, Theguardian.com

Britain’s best-paid banking boss, António Horta-Osório , has taken a 44% cut in his £ 6.5m pay package as Lloyds Banking Group reported a sharp fall in profits last year.

The group was hit by an additional £ 2.5bn bill for payment protection insurance, sending pre-tax profit for down by more than a quarter to £ 4.4bn. That compared with £ 6bn a year earlier , but was ahead of the £ 3bn expected by analysts.

Lloyds has slashed the total pay package for its chief executive to £ 4.7m, and has cut the group bonus pool for the first time in four years , with payouts down % to a total of £ 480 m.

Lloyds said the bonus cuts reflected results that were “heavily impacted by the additional PPI provision and other conduct-related issues”.

Of the additional £ 2.5bn in PPI charges last year, £ 1.8bn was taken in the third quarter . The bank made no further provisions in the final three months of the year, signalling that the mis-selling scandal may now be at an end.

Lloyds has paid out significantly more in compensation than any other bank, putting aside almost £ bn to cover PPI. The bill for the banking sector as a whole is more than £ 76 bn.

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