Lloyds Banking Group PLC’s (LON:LLOY) head of pay has defended the renumeration package paid to the lender’s chief executive in a cross-examination by lawmakers on Wednesday, Sky News reported.
Stuart Sinclair, the independent non-executive director who chairs Lloyds’ remuneration committee told the House of Common’s Work and Pensions Committee that staff at the bank did not resent Antonio Horta-Osorio's pay arrangements.
READ: Lloyds bosses summoned by MPs to explain 'greedy' pensions policy
Sky News said Sinclair told MPs on the committee that there was no suggestion of a rift with Lloyds staff over the CEO’s pay.
"When I go out to see people who are on £22,000, £30,000, £40,000, they see Antonio as a winner, because he brought this bank back from the brink,” Sinclair was reported as saying.
Last year, Horta-Osorio received a £6.27m pay package that included a pension contribution of 33%, which had been reduced from an original level of 46%.
The average Lloyds worker earns about £30,000 and typically receives a pension contribution of 13%, Sky News said.
Lloyds, which was bailed out by the UK government during the financial crisis of 2008, returned to private hands in 2017, with Horta-Osorio – which took over at the bank in 2011 - credited with driving its recovery.