Lloyds makes compensation offer over HBOS fraud scandal

Lloyds Banking Group has made more than £10 million of compensation offers and hardship payments to customers affected by the HBOS fraud scandal.

Lloyds Banking Group has made more than £10 million of compensation offers and hardship payments to customers affected by the HBOS fraud scandal. Picture; PA

Thirty customers have either now received a compensation offer or are in the “detailed stages” of assessment and will receive an offer shortly, the lender said on Friday.

Lloyds, which rescued HBOS at the height of the financial crisis, has set aside a £100 million pot for customers affected by the fraud, which took place between 2003 and 2007 at the hands of former HBOS Reading staff.

The corrupt financiers were jailed earlier this year for the £245 million loans scam which destroyed several businesses, before they squandered the profits on high-end prostitutes and luxury holidays.

Victims have been asked to provide detailed input into the review, not only covering the economic losses they have incurred, but also highlighting indirect losses such as legal fees and other personal costs.

Among them is former Deal Or No Deal host Noel Edmonds, who launched a £50 million-plus compensation claim against the lender in May.

The 30 customers represent nearly half of all those affected by the scandal.

Of those, final offers totalling more than £6.5 million have been made to 16, with five accepted so far.

The remaining 14 cases are currently in the final stage of assessment by Lloyds and Professor Russel Griggs, who is spearheading the bank’s investigation into the fraud.

Last month Lloyds also committed to offer customers a one-off “ex gratia payment” of £35,000 to ensure that no-one in the review should face financial difficulty or be forced to stump up day-to-day living costs while the probe continues.

All these payments have now been made, the bank confirmed, which total more than £3 million.

In addition, almost £1 million has been paid in professional advisory fees and in further hardship payments.

Adrian White, chief operating officer for commercial banking, said; “We are continuing to make progress in getting offers to victims of the HBOS Reading fraud.

“We have now made offers or are in the detailed assessment stage for nearly half of the victims in the review. It is important we get the fullest possible information from victims to ensure we can factor in everything that should contribute to their compensation offer.”