Authorities say have not asked Bischoff to head Lloyds

Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 5:16 AM Posted by Beijing News


State authorities said Wednesday that former Citigroup chairman Win Bischoff has not been asked to be chairman of state-controlled Lloyds Banking Group.

The Financial Times had reported that Bischoff, 67, had been asked to take on the job by UK Financial Investments, the government body managing the taxpayers' stake in LBG.

"This is pure speculation -- UKFI has not asked Sir Win Bischoff or anyone else to be Lloyds Chairman," the body said in a statement.

"The process to select a new Chairman is being run by Lloyds and is still ongoing."

However, sources told AFP that Bischoff remained on a shortlist of 4-5 people in the running for the job.

Lloyds had announced in May that its current chairman, Victor Blank, will step down from his post by June next year following criticism over his role in Lloyds TSB's takeover of struggling rival lender HBOS.

On Tuesday, LBG axed 2,100 more jobs to its streamline operations as it seeks to recover from the global financial crisis and the costly takeover of rival HBOS.

LBG, which is 43-percent owned by the government after a huge bailout, has now slashed around 7,000 jobs since its creation in January, when Lloyds TSB bought rival lender HBOS in a government-brokered deal.







A boy jumps while playing football in a field near Pretoria. AFP/Yasuyoshi Chiba

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