Top RBS man to lead the facelift of Lloyds’ division

Lloyds, which is 41 per cent owned by the UK taxpayer, is refocusing more squarely on its debt divisions and less on riskier investment banking activities.

It appointed Mr Bostock, who has been in charge of running-off RBS’s non-core assets as head of restructuring and risk, as chief executive of the wholesale arm.

The former head Truett Tate is moving aside to a senior client job.

Mr Bostock was seen as a key player in RBS’s restructuring effort and was one of RBS chief executive Stephen Hester’s first appointments back in 2009.

Lloyds’ chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio has moved rapidly to shake up strategy since he joined from Santander in March this year.

Last month he said he would halve Lloyds’ international presence and axe 15,000 jobs.

Mr Horta-Osorio will adopt a similar focus on UK clients for the wholesale business, restricting its international operations. “We do not want to compete with the full range all-bracketing investment banks. We do not want to go into high risk products, into high trading activities; we do not want to chase multinational corporations’ business around the world,” he said last month.

Lloyds aims to invest in transaction banking, debt capital markets, fixed income and rates, and grow in foreign exchange as it attempts to win a bigger “share of wallet” from its UK corporate customers.

It is not targeting an equities business.

Mr Bostock, whose joining date has not yet been fixed, will report to Mr Horta-Osorio and will work closely with Andrew Geczy, who was promoted yesterday to oversee the wholesale banking and markets business.

He will also be a member of the group executive committee.

Mr Bostock, who has previously worked at Abbey National where he was chief financial officer, joined RBS in 2009 to slash the bank’s non-core assets, which have more than halved from 2008 levels.

He was also a former chief financial officer at Alliance & Leices-ter.

Mr Bostock will stay at RBS until at least February before he switches to Lloyds.

Referring to Mr Bostock’s appointment, Mr Horta-Osorio said: “His vast experience in wholesale markets and deep understanding of risk management uniquely qualify him for this role.

“He brings a wealth of experience and will play an important part in my senior leadership team as we enter the next phase of delivering on the promise of the group to customers and sharehold- ers.”

The appointments are subject to FSA approval.