The chief executive of Lloyds is the last man standing among the banks that bore the brunt of the financial crisis.
Three years ago, Eric Daniels was busy cementing Lloyds’ reputation as something of a boring bank, reporting its first dividend increase in five years on the back of a steady rise in profits.
However, his business was plunged into the maelstrom when the deal to rescue HBOS — famously sealed at a cocktail party — left Lloyds bloated with toxic debt. Lloyds’s chairman, Sir Victor Blank, paid for that deal with his job as the bank took recourse to the taxpayer for funds.
Though Daniels, who was deeply involved in the HBOS rescue as well, has managed to hang on, determined to prove that the takeover would ultimately turn out to be a sound move. Last week, revealing half-year profits of £1.6 billion (US$2.5 billion) and a halving of bad debts, he was looking more secure.
Unlike Andy Hornby, a retailer who was hired by HBOS for his marketing skills, Daniels is a lifelong banker who had 25 years at Citibank under his belt before joining Lloyds in 2001. He is said to understand the ”plumbing” of the industry like few others and is well-regarded among fellow bankers.
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