By Razak Musah Baba
LONDON--Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LLOY.LN) said Monday it has
appointed Norman Blackwell as chairman of the banking group with
effect from April 3, when current chairman Sir Winfried Bischoff
retires.
Lord Blackwell was appointed chairman of Lloyds' Scottish Widows
subsidiary in September last year. He has been a non-executive
director of the 33% government-owned bank since June 2012 and is
also chairman of global support services firm Interserve PLC
(IRV.LN), a role he has held since January 2006.
He has also held positions within the U.K. Government. From 1986
to 1987, Lord Blackwell was a member of Margaret Thatcher's Prime
Minister's Policy Unit and then served as head of the Prime
Minister's Policy Unit under the government of John Major from 1995
to 1997, where he coordinated domestic policy development across
government departments.
Mr. Bischoff announced his plans to retire "no later than the
shareholders meeting in May 2014" in May. He joined the Lloyds
board in September 2009.
Lloyds Banking Group PLC shares at 1125 GMT traded up 1 pence,
or 1.1%, at 78 pence in a slightly lower FTSE 100 Index--down
0.7%.
--Ian Walker contributed to this article.
Write to Razak Musah Baba at razak.baba@wsj.com; Twitter:
@Raztweet
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