Lloyds Bank is exposed to renewed audit after it was accused by former customers and violations of the failure of small companies in the years that followed the 2008 financial collapse, although the taxpayer rescue plan is worth 20 billion pounds designed to maintain the flow of credit to small and medium -sized companies.
A joint investigation by BBC and panorama I have heard allegations that LLOYDs intentionally expanded the scope of lending and classifying them as a “ordeal” to recover funds more aggressively, and perhaps accelerate its collapse.
Several business owners told the program that their companies folded after putting them in the bank's commercial support unit (BSU) – an outwardly created section to help companies difficult. Instead, they claim that BSU only provided a few real support and accelerated the closure of rescue operations.
“The approach to lending has become: do not lend. Further, get the most possible amount of money that we have provided,” said James Decker, a former employee of Lloyds who sold financial products to companies in 2009.
The customers who referred to BSU described “easy choices” for a bank looking to reduce his exposure.
One of the informants of the violations that worked in external consultations that Lloyds brought to advise companies within the BSU unit said that many companies they faced “may not have been an ordeal, they were rescue.”
In his anonymous speech, she accused the informants of “Planning to Manage these entities before the reports that were produced.” They claimed that the action plans were ignored and did not make any real effort to save the companies concerned.
“There was a pattern,” said those whose violations said. “They were not interested in saving the company.”
Accusing at the heart of the conditions imposed on banks during the crisis. The then Minister of Leader Gordon Brown insisted that the state-backed lenders must protect access to the credit of small and medium-sized companies-a decisive sector of the UK economy.
In a statement, “Lloyds” categorically denied these allegations, saying: “These historical allegations have been completely investigated by the group and found that they are not proven. The unit of support for our business supported several thousand customers. “
The latest revelation adds to long -term questions about how some banks deal with small and medium companies in the aftermath of the accident – and whether government guarantees have been imposed correctly. For LLOYDS, which has faced a similar audit in the past, these allegations are likely to re -ignite the call for more accountability and transparency on post -crisis behavior.
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