City fears Lloyds is a ship sailing without a captain

Shares in the bailed-out bank slumped 7 per cent to close at a 52‑week low as the group also revealed a high‑flying banker had reversed a decision to come on board.

The twin setbacks followed Lloyds revelation at the start of this month that chief executive Antonio Horta‑Osorio, 47, would be off work until Christmas with a stress‑related illness.

With finance director and current interim chief executive Tim Tookey due to quit in February for a job with the Resolution insurance group, shareholder fears have grown about a looming power vacuum at the top of Britain’s biggest retail lender.

Yesterday, Royal Bank of Scotland said its chief risk officer, Nathan Bostock, 50, who had been due to join Lloyds next year, would be staying at RBS “after careful consideration of his position”.

Lloyds’ chairman Sir Win Bischoff said that although Horta‑Osorio was making good progress in his recovery, as part of the bank’s contingency planning David Roberts, a non‑executive director and former Barclays executive, would become interim chief executive if the sick boss’s return was delayed.

The news shocked the market because Bischoff had said in early November that he was “very confident” Horta‑Osorio would be “back in harness” by the end of the year.

“This is a way of possibly easing an eventual exit for Horta‑Osorio,” Colin McLean, of SVM Asset Management, commented. Keith Bowman, banking specialist with broker Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “It’s going to add to the nerves of investors in Lloyds. Investors don’t like uncertainty and there is plenty of uncertainty around the Lloyds’ boardroom at present.”

Shares in the bank, 41 per cent-owned by the taxpayer after a £17 billion bail-out in 2008, closed down 1.77p at 23.4p, leaving the state sitting on losses of just under £11bn.

Roberts, 49, joined Lloyds in March 2010. He was previously a veteran of rival Barclays, having joined the bank in 1983 and held various senior positions including chief executive of international retail and commercial banking, and chief executive, business banking.

It is understood Bostock had been attracted by the idea of rejoining the highly regarded Horta-Osorio. They worked together at Spanish bank Santander between 2006 and 2009, and Bostock had been lined up to become head of Lloyds’ wholesale banking division.

However, Lloyds said yesterday that director Truett Tate would now continue in his role as group executive director, wholesale – his responsibility for the past seven years.

“It’s a very confusing situation,” said Brown Shipley fund manager John Smith. “It’s still unclear who is running the ship, and there’s still a risk that Horta‑Osorio might not return.”

In a further twist towards the end of yesterday’s trading, Lloyds put out another statement saying it had made good progress in recruiting a new group finance director to replace Tookey.

The bank said it was in advanced talks with George Culmer, chief financial officer of insurance group RSA.

Bischoff said: “We are pleased to be in advanced discussions to secure the services of such an outstanding chief financial officer whose considerable track record has been widely acknowledged. We look forward to him joining us.”