Lloyds bonus row was conducted rather too quietly

A week ago, the first hints emerged that Wolfgang Berndt, chairman of Lloyds Banking Group's remuneration committee, did not enjoy the full support of UK Financial Investments, the body that manages taxpayers' interests in banks. Berndt today said he would retire at the annual meeting in May, thereby making a vote on his re-election unnecessary. Are these facts related? Of course they are. It's just that UKFI is too polite to acknowledge publicly that it was hopping mad about the award by Berndt's committee of a full bonus of £2.3m to Eric Daniels. In the event, the Lloyds chief executive chose to waive the payout – but that doesn't alter the fact that it was awarded in a year in which Lloyds lost £6.3bn. For Lloyds' part, it would prefer everyone to concentrate on Berndt's seven years of service as a non-executive, an innings so long he might have been minded to leave anyway. But that doesn't explain why Lloyds was calling on shareholders less than a week ago to support Berndt's re-election. This coyness does nobody any favours. It would be better if UKFI said loudly and proudly that it wanted Berndt to be replaced. That way taxpayers would know their representative recognised the madness in awarding a maximum bonus to Daniels. There is no shame in voicing that opinion.