By Scott Wright

THE new chief executive of Bank of Scotland owner Lloyds Banking Group had his first day in the job yesterday.

Charlie Nunn, formerly of HSBC, officially moved into the role at Britain’s biggest mortgage lender more than eight months after he was named as successor to Antonio Horta-Osorio.

Mr Nunn will receive a remuneration package which that could be worth more than £5.5 million. Announcing his appointment in December, the bank said Mr Nunn will receive a basic salary of £1.125m, a fixed share award of £1.05m per year, and flexible benefit funding of four per cent of basic salary. He will also be eligible for a maximum group performance share award of 140 per cent of basic salary, worth up to £1.575m, and has agreed to limit the maximum award under the long term share plan to 150%, which could be worth £1.73m. Pension funding has been set at 15% of salary, down from the 33% Mr Horta-Osorio received.

Mr Nunn, who had been with HSBC since 2011, joins shortly after Lloyds released £837m of provisions for bad debts arising from the pandemic amid the improving economic outlook. The release helped it make a statutory pre-tax profit of £3.9bn for the first half.

William Chalmers has returned to his role as finance chief after a three and a half month spell as interim boss.

Lloyds said in a statement yesterday: “As previously announced on 24 February 2021, Charlie Nunn’s appointment as group chief executive and executive director will commence today.

“The Lloyds Banking Group plc board would like to thank William Chalmers for his successful stewardship as interim group chief executive over the last three and a half months. William will now revert to focus on his role as chief financial officer and, together with the board, looks forward to working with Charlie.”