Lloyds Names Colombas COO, Bester to Leave in Reorganization
Lloyds Names Colombas COO, Bester to Leave in Reorganization
(Bloomberg) -- Lloyds Banking Group Plc named Juan Colombas to the newly created role of chief operating officer and said commercial banking head Andrew Bester will leave as the U.K. bank prepares to unveil a new strategic plan.
David Oldfield, who runs the consumer-banking division, will replace Bester as head of the commercial division, the London-based bank said in a statement on Wednesday. Colombas, who is a director at the bank, will be responsible for computer systems, staff and the transformation plan.
Chief Executive Officer Antonio Horta-Osorio is reshuffling his senior team as he devises a three-year business plan due to be announced alongside annual results in February. After helping the bank to exit state-ownership in May following a years-long turnaround, the CEO has faced questions about his future amid speculation he might leave to become CEO of HSBC Holdings Plc.
The changes “perhaps indicate a welcome level of commitment from CEO Antonio, given obvious speculation around the HSBC forthcoming vacancy,” analysts led by Edward Firth and Richard Smith at Keefe Bruyette & Woods wrote in a note to clients.
Colombas, who was most recently chief risk officer and a member of the bank’s executive committee since January 2011, is known as a confidant of Horta-Osorio and followed him to Lloyds from Banco Santander SA’s U.K. business. Stephen Shelley, chief risk officer of the commercial bank, replaces Colombas in the group role.
Bester’s departure follows a period of improving returns at the commercial bank, which could become a potential growth area for Britain’s largest retail lender as it seeks to reduce its dependence on residential mortgages. Lloyds said Bester was leaving to “pursue other opportunities,” having led a successful turnaround of the commercial division.
Oldfield, who replaces Bester, has worked for Lloyds for more than 30 years and was most recently head of the bank’s retail and consumer-finance division. Vim Maru, previously in charge of customer products, replaces Oldfield, while digital specialist Zaka Mian will become group director responsible for transformation of the bank’s computer systems, data and innovation.
Chief Financial Officer George Culmer expands his role to include oversight of the bank’s legal and strategy teams, as well as for the bank’s Lloyds Development Capital private-equity unit.
In January, Horta-Osorio promoted Jen Tippin, who he personally mentored, to lead group organizational design and cost management. She now becomes group people and productivity director. Simon Davies, the bank’s chief people, legal and strategy officer, who recently took a leave of absence from the group because his wife is unwell, has decided to leave the organization, the bank added.
“It’s natural the group has moved from restructuring to now repositioning for the future,” said Joseph Dickerson, an analyst at Jefferies International Ltd. in London with a buy rating on shares. The shake-up will help Lloyds to integrate the MBNA credit cards unit it bought from Bank of America Corp. and to “look at other ways to grow the business.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Richard Partington in London at rpartington@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Jon Menon, Ross Larsen