Lloyds Bank set to honour staff bonuses
In a move which is sure to cause problems at the Treasury it has been revealed that the top directors of Lloyds Bank have been telling staff that the government bailout will not change the way they operate and there are very few actual restrictions. Indeed it has also been revealed that staff bonuses for this year will be honoured at a time when the group is supposedly struggling to finance its core business.
The boast of Gordon Brown a few days ago that he was now in control and calling the shots in the City seems to ring very hollow this evening and there may be a backlash from the voters. On the surface, and in the press, it looks as though he is playing hardball but behind the scenes it is very much business as usual.
It will be interesting to see if the PM actually tries to pull the banks back into line, or is happy to let the rescue, which he has staked his career on, progress slightly differently to the way we had expected it to?
When the dust has settled on the rescue package and the finer details are in the public domain it will be interesting to see exactly who is pulling the strings, who is really in control.
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