Decision soon on Lloyds chief’s return

The Portuguese banker, who was signed off work last month with exhaustion, has already had one-to-one meetings with some non-executive directors about continuing in his post.

More discussions are set to take place this week before Thursday’s board meeting, when a decision on Mr Horta-Osorio’s future may be made.

UK Financial Investments, which manages the Treasury’s 41 per cent stake in Lloyds, is understood to have told the bank it is happy for him to carry on.

Thursday’s board meeting is also likely to see a decision on competing bids for Lloyds’ Project Verde branch network from buyout vehicle NBNK and the Co-operative. Both bids are thought to be in the region of £1.5bn, although Lloyds has not ruled out a stock market flotation.

NBNK Investments is thought to be slight favourite to secure the 632 branches.