Lloyds Chairman Blank to step down

LONDON (Reuters) - Victor Blank is to step down as chairman of Lloyds Banking Group before next year's annual shareholder meeting, the part-nationalised British bank said on Sunday.

The move follows intense criticism of Lloyds' takeover of troubled lender HBOS earlier this year, which was led by Blank and resulted in billions of pounds in losses from HBOS's home and corporate loans.

The bank said the decision was Blank's, and the Lloyds' board was unanimous in wanting him to seek re-election for another three years.

Blank said he will retire by Lloyds' 2010 AGM as it was "the right time" to appoint a new chairman.

(Reporting by Steve Slater)

Article Published: 17/05/2009