Lloyds set to reveal number of £1m staff bonuses

The taxpayer-backed bank handed 25 of its staff £1m or more in pay and bonuses in 2012, including rewards for five employees who were rewarded more than £2m.

As a predominantly retail bank, the number is set to be far less than at rivals such as Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC.

Lloyds returned to a bottom-line profit for the first time in three years with statutory profits of £415m in 2013 and said it was ready to be returned to the private sector.

But the group came under fire after chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio refused to forgo a potential £1.7m shares bonus and handed out £395m to staff despite revealing another £1.8bn in payment protection insurance provisions and receiving a record £28m fine for paying staff “champagne bonuses” that drove mis-selling.

Lloyds said on reporting annual results in mid-February that its remuneration committee was due to discuss the claw back of past payouts to individuals relating to the Financial Conduct Authority penalty. Its annual report will be scoured for any sign that this has been agreed.

The bank will also confirm whether it plans to ask shareholders to approve the maximum level of bonuses – set at double annual salary – under the new EU rules to cap payouts, which came into force on January 1 and apply from this year onwards.

The annual report comes amid speculation that the Treasury is planning to delay any sale of government shares in Lloyds to retail investors until the autumn.

It was hoped that the report would pave the way for a retail offer in the spring, but UK Financial Investments – the body charged with managing government stakes in banks – is said to have advised pressing ahead with another sale to institutional investors first.

UKFI is believed to fear that volatile stock market conditions could leave it vulnerable, given the length of time it takes to arrange a big retail offer.

The Treasury has already sold off a six per cent stake to institutional investors, raising £3.2bn last September, bringing its stake down to 33 per cent.

With shares holding above 73.6p – the average price paid by the Government when the bank was rescued – the Treasury is understood to be considering selling shares worth another £3bn or more to institutional investors imminently.