Last of the Lloyds old guard bows out after its shake-up

Truett Tate, who headed Lloyds' wholesale division which handles banking for businesses, is departing after a major shake-up of the board which will reduce the pressure on chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio.

Horta-Osorio took two months' sick leave with extreme exhaustion at the end of last year.

Tate's departure completes a clear-out of the executive directors who worked for Daniels. The other departures since March are Helen Weir, head of retail banking, Archie Kane, head of insurance, and Tim Tookey, finance director.

Lloyds is still negotiating with Daniels about clawing back some of the £1.45 million bonus he was awarded for 2010 on the grounds that the bank's disastrous merger with HBOS, which forced a £20 billion taxpayer bailout, left it in a much worse state than it had appeared.

Tate is expected to get a 12-month pay-off based on his basic salary, which was raised to £656,000 last year. In 2010 his total pay and bonus package was £1.6 million.

Lloyds has yet to announce its bonus payouts for 2011 but is facing pressure in the wake of Stephen Hester of Royal Bank of Scotland's decision to turn down his £963,000 bonus for last year.

Lloyds, which is 41% owned by the taxpayer, said the new structure, which was hammered out by Horta-Osorio and the bank's chairman Sir Win Bischoff, would see the number of reporting lines to the chief executive cut from 14 to 10.

Horta-Osorio said: "The changes to the group's senior management team ensure we have the right organisational structure to deliver on our strategy and move to the next phase of Lloyds' transformation. When I started as chief executive, I felt it was vital to understand all the issues in the business, flatten the organisational structure and make sure we addressed the right priorities with a sense of urgency.

"As we move to the implementation and execution phase of our strategy, I will adapt my leadership style accordingly which, in combination with the changes to our organisational structure announced today, will create more time for me to spend with key stakeholders and, in particular, our people across the group."

The changes will see two of Horta-Osorio's former colleagues at Santander UK take bigger roles with Alison Brittain heading the retail business and Antonio Lorenzo adding asset finance to his strategy and wealth and international briefs.