LLOYDS
TSB SETTLEMENT WITH US AUTHORITIES
Lloyds TSB
has announced today that it has reached a settlement with both the United States
Department of Justice and the New York County District Attorney’s Office in
relation to a previously disclosed investigation involving those agencies into
certain historic US dollar payment practices by Lloyds TSB.
Lloyds TSB
disclosed in its interim results for the first half of 2008 that it was in
discussions regarding a resolution of the investigation and that it had provided
£180 million in respect of this matter. That provision was hedged
into US dollars at the time and fully covers the settlement amount announced
today.
We are
committed to running our business with the highest levels of integrity and
regulatory compliance across all of our operations and have undertaken a range
of significant steps to further enhance our compliance programmes.
We
committed substantial resources to a thorough internal investigation, the
results of which were shared with US investigators and regulators. We
are gratified that the US Department of Justice and the New York County District
Attorney’s Office both recognise that we have provided prompt and substantial
cooperation throughout their investigation.
Lloyds TSB
is continuing discussions with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
regarding the terms of the resolution of its investigation. OFAC has
confirmed to Lloyds TSB that the amount paid to the United States
Department of Justice and the New York County District Attorney’s Office will be
credited towards satisfying any penalty it imposes. Accordingly,
Lloyds TSB does not believe there will be any payment to OFAC and no further
provisions are necessary.
We have
fully briefed our UK and other US regulators on this settlement and the Bank
does not anticipate any further enforcement actions as to these
issues.
For
further information:
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UK
enquiries
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Investor
Relations
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Michael
Oliver
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+44 (0) 20 7356
2167 |
Director
of Investor Relations
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Media
Relations
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Leigh
Calder
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+44 (0) 20 7356
1347 |
Senior
Manager, Media Relations
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US
enquiries
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Michael
Gross / Jim Badenhausen
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+1 646 805
2003 |
Robinson
Lerer & Montgomery
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+1 646 805
2006 |
FORWARD
LOOKING STATEMENTS
This
announcement contains forward looking statements with respect to the business,
strategy and plans of the Lloyds TSB Group, its current goals and
expectations relating to its future financial condition and
performance. By their nature, forward looking statements involve risk
and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that
will occur in the future. The Group’s actual future results may
differ materially from the results expressed or implied in these forward looking
statements as a result of a variety of factors, including UK domestic and global
economic and business conditions, risks concerning borrower credit quality,
market related risks such as interest rate risk and exchange rate risk in its
banking business and equity risk in its insurance businesses, changing
demographic trends, unexpected changes to regulation, the policies and actions
of governmental and regulatory authorities in the UK or jurisdictions outside
the UK, including other European countries and the US, exposure to legal
proceedings or complaints, changes in customer preferences, competition and
other factors. Please refer to the latest Annual Report on Form 20-F
filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a discussion of such
factors. The forward looking statements contained in this
announcement are made as at the date of this announcement, and the Group
undertakes no obligation to update any of its forward looking
statements.