Due to the fact the taxpayer injected £12billion into Lloyds Banking Group – formed when Lloyds TSB and HBOS merged – the Government is entitled to nominate two non-executive directors to the board.

UK Financial Investments, the “arm’s length” company set up by the Government to manage the taxpayer’ stakes in UK banks, will appoint the two directors, and according to The Guardian, it has already made its choices.

The paper reports that the two are Tony Watson, former head of Hermes pension fund management group and Tim Ryan, chief executive of the US Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

Tony Watson is currently on the Board at Vodafone following retirement from his role as Chief Executive of Hermes Pensions Management Limited. Before joining Hermes in 1998, he was Managing Director of AMP Asset Management and the Chief International Investment Officer of Citicorp Investment Management.

Prior to joining the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), American Tim Ryan was Vice Chairman of Financial Institutions and Governments at J.P. Morgan. He also served as an officer in the U.S. Army from 1967 –1970.

Non-executive directors already in place at Lloyds Banking Group are Chairman and former director of RBS, Sir Victor Blank, Ewan Brown, former chairman of Lloyds TSB Scotland, Wolfgang C G Berndt, Jan P du Plessis, Philip N Green, Sir Julian Horn-Smith, Lord Leitch, Sir David Manning GCMG CVO, Carolyn J McCall OBE and Martin A Scicluna.

While executive directors are Group Chief Executive J Eric Daniels who has been with Lloyds TSB since 2001, Insurance Group Executive Director Archie G Kane who is also chairman of the ABI, Group Executive Director of Wholesale, G Truett Tate, Tim J W Tookey who is Group Finance Director and Helen A Weir CBE, the Executive Director of Retail.

© Fair Investment Company Ltd