£2.8m ‘hello’ for latest Santander recruit to Lloyds

ALISON BRITTAIN, the new head of Bank of Scotland’s retail operation, has been awarded a £2.8 million “golden hello” after being lured from rival Santander.

Brittain, who joined Lloyds Banking Group this month as group director of Lloyds TSB and BoS Community Banks, will be handed 7.7 million shares, worth 37p at last night’s close, over the next three years.

The share awards are subject to “performance conditions”, although details were not spelled out in the announcement by Lloyds.

The bank, which is 41 per cent owned by the taxpayer, said the award was a replacement for the benefits she forfeited as a result of her resignation from the Santander Group, where she was executive director for retail distribution and intermediaries for the bank’s UK operations.

Brittain’s award will be structured in three tranches. The first 1.2 million shares, due to vest in 2014, are subject to her remaining in the job for three years. The largest tranche, of 5.9 million shares, will vest in December of next year “subject to performance conditions” while a third, smaller, tranche of 612,000 shares will vest in 2013.

The award is based on a share price of 30.65p, which reflected the value of the bank’s shares on the date she joined on 5 September. The shares already 21 per cent higher.

Brittain is one of a number of former Santander executives who followed Antonio Horta-Osório when he took over as group chief executive of Lloyds in March. Horta-Osório himself was welcomed with millions of pounds in shares and pension payments in addition to his annual pay and pensions worth a maximum of £8.3m.

Among his hires from Santander was chief financial officer in the UK, Antonio Lorenzo, and Juan Colombás, head of risk.

Earlier this month, the Portuguese banker Horta-Osório completed a “clean sweep” of the board he inherited from his predecessor, Eric Daniels, when finance director Tim Tookey announced he was leaving to take up a job at insurer Friends Provident. It is expected to clear the way for Lorenzo to succeed him.

The departure of Lord Leitch, the chairman of Scottish Widows and deputy chairman of Lloyds, was announced at the same time. Brittain was hired to replace the bank’s outgoing head of retail, Helen Weir.

Although she will not have a place on the board, Brittain will be a key member of the bank’s group executive committee and will oversee the sale of 632 branches – “Project Verde” – as required by the EU due to the bank’s state bail-outs. Paul Pester, chief executive of the Verde business, will report to Brittain.

Brittain – previously Hopkins – was recruited by Horta-Osório in 2007 from Barclays to become an executive director of the Abbey National alongside its then chief financial officer Nathan Bostock.

Bostock, who had been recruited by Stephen Hester two years ago to run the non-core division of Royal Bank of Scotland, also recently announced he would re-join Horta-Osório to become chief executive of Lloyds’ wholesale division.