Lloyds, which is 41% tax-payer-owned, attracted Mr Bester from Singapore, where he was chief operating officer of London-headquartered Standard Chartered's consumer banking arm, to take a job previously awarded to Nathan Bostock, head of restructuring at RBS.

Mr Bester was given nearly 2.4 million Lloyds shares, which will vest in tranches, and be available for him to sell, from March 2013.

Meanwhile, George Culmer, the former finance director of RSA, who Lloyds hired to do the same job for it, has been given nearly 4.5 million shares, worth nearly £1.3m, as compensation for options he surrendered when he left. Mr Bostock was awarded the job overseeing Lloyds's business with large companies in July but had a change of heart in November when Lloyds chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio went on a leave of absence.

Mr Bester had previously been co-head of wholesale banking for Africa, Greater China and Japan at Standard Chartered as well as finance director and chief operating officer for its consumer banking arm.

Lloyds's wholesale business had been run by former Citigroup banker Andrew Geczy following the departure of Truett Tate.

The appointments come at a crucial time for Lloyds's turnaround, after its 2008 state bailout. At the end of last month Lloyds posted a £439m loss for the first half of 2012 after taking a further provision of £700m for payment protection insurance compensation.

But Lloyds, which acquired Halifax Bank of Scotland in 2009, said underlying profit increased by £715m to £1.064bn, higher than most forecasts.

It reduced its balance sheet by running down or selling non-core assets, cut its loan to deposit ratio by nearly 10 points to 126% and reduced its reliance on wholesale funding.

Lloyds is also seeking to complete the sale of 632 branches, including 185 belonging to Lloyds TSB Scotland, to mutually owned Co-operative Bank.