Lloyds boss Antonio Horta-Osorio ‘overdid it’ before taking time off sick

THE boss of Lloyds Banking Group has admitted he “overdid it” trying to turn around the bank before sleep problems eventually forced him into a temporary leave of absence.

Antonio Horta-Osorio said a specialist had told him that his “battery was in effect so run down it was virtually on zero”.

He went to the Priory clinic for a week to rest and by the time of his return home he was sleeping eight hours a day, he told a newspaper.

The company announced on Wednesday that Mr Horta-Osorio would be returning to his job on 9 January after being given a clean bill of health.

Recalling the time prior to being signed off work in late October, Mr Horta-Osorio said: “When I became chief executive in March I had a very clear idea of what had to be done. I threw myself into the job.

“There were very many issues to be tackled. I focused too much on too many details,” he said.

Mr Horta-Osorio says he realised something was wrong at the beginning of September when he noticed that he had trouble sleeping.

“I’d go to bed exhausted but could not sleep. I could not switch off. I understand now why they use sleep deprivation to torture prisoners,” he said.

The Portuguese banker revealed that with his wife Ana becoming increasingly worried about him, he sought specialist help.

After the week at the Priory he was soon sleeping.

He said: “By then I felt extremely well and told the chairman I wanted to come back to work.

“The treatment involved medicine to help me sleep. I’m still on mild doses of that, which I expect to come off in the next few weeks.”

Mr Horta-Osorio said he was not going to work any less – just differently, by detaching himself from Lloyds’ day-to-day running to focus on strategy.