MPs urge Lloyds to speed up HBOS review

The Committee is now urging the bank to "complete it quicker", after Russel Griggs, who is overseeing the bank’s compensation process, revealed today that Lloyds has made compensation offers worth £76 million to the victims of HBOS fraud.

134 former company directors impacted by the fraud have now accepted their compensation offers out of the 170 which have currently been identified.

Nicky Morgan, chair of the Treasury Committee, has also written to Griggs to ask for further information about the compensation scheme for victims.

Last year, six people were jailed for a total of 47 years and nine months following the six year police investigation into the HBOS fraud case.

Commenting on the correspondence, Nicky Morgan said: "It’s almost a decade since Lloyds’ takeover of HBOS, nearly 18 months since the six individuals connected to the HBOS Reading fraud were convicted, and just over 14 months since Dame Linda was appointed to review HBOS Reading.

"Yet it will be a further 12–18 months until Dame Linda’s report will be completed. Whilst the Committee welcomes Lloyds’ commitment to provide it with the report, a publication date of mid-to-late 2019 is disappointing.

"It is overwhelmingly in the public interest – especially to those who were victims of the HBOS Reading fraud—to understand how such large-scale criminal behaviour was allowed to happen, who knew about it, and when.

"Whether it’s a case of insufficient resources or competing priorities at Lloyds, they should do all they can to ensure a swift conclusion of this work."