PLC, said the U.K. lender will accelerate the sale of a 600-branch network that was slated for disposal by 2013.
Mr. Horta-Osorio said the sale, and a strategic review of the overall business that he will complete by June, "mark the start of the next phase of Lloyds Banking Group's development." Advisers are to be appointed to handle the sale within the next few weeks, which analysts said should put the sale on track for completion in late 2011 or early 2012.
"As the integration of our business comes to a close in the coming months, we have a unique opportunity to redefine our future and demonstrate how we will drive long-term value for our customers, shareholders and employees," Mr. Horta-Osorio said on his first day on the job Tuesday.
Mr. Horta-Osorio will report on the bank's medium-term plan by the end of June. The bank said his review "will cover all aspects of the business and will focus on ensuring that customers will be at the heart of the bank's future strategy by supporting U.K. households and businesses." As part of that commitment, Lloyds, one of the U.K.'s biggest banks, said it won't close any more U.K. branches until the end of 2011.
Mr. Horta-Osório's predecessor, Eric Daniels , on Friday said the branch sale wouldn't happen until after the integration of Lloyds and HBOS was completed, though it was widely expected that Mr. Horta-Osório would seek a sale sooner. Lloyds agreed to buy HBOS in September 2008 during the global financial crisis, leading to a series of government bailouts and the state taking a 41% stake.
Lloyds must sell 600 Cheltenham & Gloucester and Lloyds TSB branches by November 2013 as a condition of the European Commission's approval of the government aid. The sale includes the branches and customer accounts, the TSB brand and Intelligent Finance brand, customers and accounts.
Interested parties include Richard Branson's Virgin Money and NBNK Investments PLC, a financial-investment company created last year by sneior business leaders to invest in U.K. banks.
"The acceleration of the sale should come as no surprise. With Mr. Horta-Osório's arrival, we'll start to see the acceleration of quite a few different initiatives," predicted Joseph Dickerson , an analyst at Execution Noble with a buy rating on Lloyds stock.
Mr. Horta-Osório, formerly CEO of Banco Santander /quotes/comstock/13*!std /quotes/nls/std ( STD 11.95 , -0.05 , -0.42% ) SA's Santander UK unit, was announced as Mr. Daniels' successor in November and joined Lloyds's board on Jan. 17. Mr. Daniels will remain with the bank as a consultant until September.
Mr. Dickerson said he expects that the new CEO will be more aggressive on setting aside reserves against further loan losses, including marking down the Irish loan book further. Lloyds last week reported £4.3 billion ($6.99 billion) in impairment charges on bad Irish loans last year, contributing to a £320 million full-year net loss.
An earlier version of this article misstated the name of Lloyds Banking's Intelligent Finance brand as Intelligence Finance.
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