LONDON, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- Lloyds Banking Group in Britain said Friday it lost $5.5 billion in 2011 after posting a profit in the previous year, adding it will cut 15,000 jobs.
The bank, which is 41 percent taxpayer-owned, also its bonus pool was down 30 percent compared with 2010.
Lloyds said it would drop bonuses for executives by 50 percent, The Guardian reported.
Chief Executive Officer Antonio Horta-Osoria has already been designated as one of the executives whose 2010 bonus would be partially "clawed back" because of the bank's $5.2 billion loss on sales of payment insurance to customers.
With bonus pay on a delayed release, the bank has canceled 41 percent of his 2010 bonus pay. Former CEO Eric Daniels is also having 41 percent of his 2010 bonus withdrawn, The Daily Telegraph reported earlier this week.
For all employees, bonus checks would average a little more than $6,000 for 2011, but the bank is also dropping 15,000 jobs on top of the 30,000 jobs it has lost since the financial crisis began.
"It is vital that Lloyds Banking Group stops attempting to make scapegoats out of its workforce to make short-term cost savings," said union officer David Fleming at Unite.
