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Lloyds Probe Over HBOS Fraud Facing Fresh Delays, Times Says

Lloyds Probe Over HBOS Fraud Facing Fresh Delays, Times Says

A probe into allegations of a possible cover-up of fraud by Lloyds Banking Group executives has hit fresh delays, the Times reported.

The investigation into the bank’s treatment of irregularities at the HBOS Reading branch won’t be completed until 2021, or more than four years after it was commissioned, the newspaper said citing Dame Linda Dobbs, who is leading the review. She said the review was still receiving documents, some of which were “highly significant,” according to the report.

The long-lasting probe has been based on claims that some executives of HBOS hid a fraud at a branch in southern England, before Lloyds acquired it at the peak of the financial crisis. It also said that Lloyds had evidence of the incident in late 2008, but didn’t disclose details to its shareholders.

A Lloyds spokeswoman told the Times that the bank had paid more than 100 million pounds ($132 million) in compensation to 71 businesses and their directors pending results of all reviews related to HBOS, the newspaper said.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.