LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM — (Marketwire) — 10/05/11 — The largest trade union in the Lloyds Banking Group and thousands of pension scheme members are demanding that the Trustees of the Lloyds TSB No 1 Pension Scheme and Lloyds TSB No 2 Pension Schemes, which have assets of some GBP 14.9 billion, answer detailed questions about whether the two schemes have been saddled with so called -toxic- assets by the Bank. Those assets could now be worth a lot less than the value placed on them at the time of the last actuarial valuation.
No Response From Bank
Whilst the Bank and the Trustees have every right legally to remain silent on the issues, members of the Lloyds TSB No 1 and No 2 Pension Schemes want to know whether their pension funds have been saddled with these so called “toxic” assets.
At the last actuarial valuation, which was carried out in 2009, the shortfall between assets and liabilities, what we would call the pension deficit, for the Lloyds TSB No 2 Pension Scheme had increased to just over GBP 2 billion up from over GBP 1 billion in 2008.
The Lloyds TSB No 1 Pension Scheme, which is largely made up of Lloyds Bank heritage staff, saw its pension scheme deficit increase from GBP 2.6 billion to GBP 4.5 billion. Together the two schemes had a total pension deficit of some GBP 6.5 billion in 2009.
At the time of the valuation the Trustees of both Schemes agreed that assets of approximately GBP 1 billion including, additional Bank contributions, should be injected into the Schemes.
GBP 4b Involved
In addition to that: “Further assets with an initial value of approximately GBP 4 billion have been put into a partnership structure set up by the Bank, in which the Trustee Directors have an interest”.
The Bank in its annual report to members states “if the Bank were unable to pay the agreed deficit contributions to the schemes during the recovery period, the Trustees could use the assets in the partnership to meet those contributions”.
Questions That Need Answering
The questions the Bank and the Pension Scheme Trustees need to address immediately are:
Union Comments
Mark Brown, General Secretary of LTU said:
“Silence on these important issues is not an option. The Bank and the Trustees need to confirm the details of the so called partnership agreement and how it is structured immediately. They also need to answer LTU-s questions on the assets owned by the partnership and whether these include any so called -toxic- assets such as mortgage backed securities.”
About Lloyds Trade Union (LTU)
Lloyds Trade Union (LTU) is the largest independent trade union representing staff working in the Lloyds Banking Group, with over 40,000 members. In large parts of the Bank, LTU represents over 80% of all managers and staff.
Mark Brown
General Secretary
Lloyds Trade Union
Contacts:
If you would like more information, you should contact:
Lloyds Trade Union
Mark Brown
07595 219573