H-boss Andy Hornby cashes in on failure

Despite his company reaching the brink of collapse before Lloyds stepped in an rescued it, Andy Hornby, chief executive of HBOS, is to receive shares worth almost £2m in Lloyds following this week’s emergency takeover. As well as a generous stake in the new entity, Hornby, 41, is expected to continue to be employed as a director on a high salary.

Company documents show that Hornby owns 1.01 million HBOS shares, mostly bought using bonuses paid when the bank was successful. If the deal is formalised, he will be given just over 830,000 Lloyds TSB shares instead - worth close to £2m.

Some have expressed reservations about such generous treatment for the man in charge when thousands of others are losing their jobs. Labour MP John McFall, chairman of the Treasury select committee, says: "It would be an obscene situation if at the end of this year we find huge bonuses given out to directors who not only have brought institutions to their knees, but also threatened the real economy by allowing people to be thrown out their jobs."

In happier times Hornby, who came to banking from Blue Circle and Asda, had been hailed as the 'boy wonder of banking'. At the Halifax he was responsible for the idea of using company staff, including the bespectacled singing cashier Howard Brown, in advertising campaigns.