Insiders at Lloyds Banking Group say its capital markets unit is reaping the first fruits of Charlie Nunn’s strategy to boost non-interest income, two years after he became chief executive.
So far, the gains have mainly served to recoup some of the market-share losses that it suffered before Nunn’s arrival. Morale in the capital markets and investment banking division reached a low point in late 2020, in the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, when – in contrast to peers – Lloyds scrapped staff bonuses just before Christmas, despite revenues in the industry booming.
During the past 18 months, however, Lloyds has again been bucking the trend in the wider investment banking industry, but this time in a more growth-orientated way. This includes hiring as it seeks to rebuild parts of the team that it lost after the 2020 bonus controversy.
Earlier this year, Carla Antunes da Silva took over the leadership of Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets, which the group set up five years ago under the post-crisis UK ringfencing rules designed to protect UK retail banks.
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