Shareholder rebellion against Lloyds executive pay

More than a fifth of Lloyds shareholders have voted against pay plans for the bank's top bosses at the group's AGM.

The investor protest saw 20.78% of investor votes cast against the bank's remuneration report in a provisional ballot at the annual general meeting in Edinburgh.

The bank's boss Antonio Horta-Osorio took home £6.42m in 2017, up 10.9% from £5.79m in 2016.

Before the meeting, advisory group Institutional Shareholders Services (ISS (LSE: 0QRS.L - news) ) had recommended a vote against the report, highlighting discrepancies between "pay and relative performance".

The group said: "Although pay ratios have not been disclosed, ISS has calculated that the CEO's pay is 95.0 times that of the average employee in the organisation."

They also questioned the "unduly complex" bonus structure and highlighted the "lack of clarity in the company's public disclosures on how bonus outcomes are actually determined".

Lloyds chairman Lord Blackwell said after the vote: "The vote has been carried, however, as I said, we are disappointed that a number of shareholders did not support the resolution this year and we will of course note and respond to them."

But while the protest will not change the remuneration, it will see Lloyds placed on a public register of firms in which over 20% of shareholders have revolted over a resolution.

Shareholders also attacked the bank's customer service record, raising issues from the mistreatment of small businesses to mortgage rates for vulnerable customers.

Reports from the meeting described it as being "predominantly hostile".

One of the shareholders questioning Lloyds bosses was television presenter Noel Edmonds, who had purchased one share at 67p so he could attend the meeting.

Edmonds is seeking compensation from the bank after allegedly falling victim to fraud by former staff at HBOS Reading, which Lloyds rescued during the financial crisis.

He said to bosses: "If you want to turn it into a game show, the way you treat us I would call it 'Pointless'.

"If you want to turn it into 'Jail Or No Jail' you are going in the right direction.

"Things are very serious but I keep asking questions and you keep ducking them."

In response, Lord Blackwell said: "This isn't a show Mr Edmonds, it's an AGM.

"You've set out one version of events on what you believe happened.

"We have a different version of events, we do not agree."

In February, Lloyds Banking Group hailed a "landmark year" as it announced annual profits had soared by 24% to a record £5.3bn.