Former Credit Suisse Chairman facing a bonus clawback from his previous firm. A clawback of his knighthood looms as well.
Antonio Horta- Osório is facing forfeiture of a bonus and share incentives totaling £1 million bonus ($1.3 million), according to a report by the «Financial Mail on Sunday».
The remuneration committee of Lloyds Group is deciding whether to penalize the former CEO for his role in the HBOS Reading fraud, which happened about 15 years ago. In January of 2017, six people were jailed, including two former HBOS employees, and handed convictions of conspiracy to corrupt, fraudulent trading, and money laundering between 2003 and 2007.
Horta-Osório left Lloyds to become Chairman of Credit Suisse where he was ousted after less than a year for flouting Covid-19 lockdown rules. Although the fraud took place before he joined Lloyds, his handling of the aftermath has been criticized.
Demands for Clawback
In February, Lloyds had to set aside an additional £790 million to redress the issue, bringing the total to £1.2 billion, the report said.
As a result, «variable remuneration awards and vestings for 2022 will be frozen for former executive directors,» pending further consideration, the report quotes Lloyds as saying.
Publication of a report of an independent investigation into the matter has been delayed. If Horta-Osório is named in it, there are calls for him to surrender the knighthood bestowed upon him by Queen Elizabeth in 2021 for «services to financial services and voluntary services to mental healthcare and to culture».
If named, «he should be stripped of his knighthood and the Financial Conduct Authority should remove the possibility of him working for a financial institution ever again,» said MP Kevin Hollinrake.
