Lloyds Banking Group appoints new chairman

LONDON: Lloyds Banking Group has appointed Win Bischoff, the former chairman of Citigroup Inc, as its new chairman, the company said Monday.

Bischoff replaces Victor Blank who announced his resignation earlier this year, after overseeing an ill-judged takeover of Halifax/Bank of Scotland that led to a 17 billion pound ($28 billion) government bailout last year.

Lloyds said in statement that Bischoff, also a former chairman of Schroders and Citigroup Europe, will take up the post in September.

Citigroup Inc. announced in January that it was replacing Bischoff with long-time board member Richard Parsons, the former CEO of Time Warner Inc., as part of a large-scale overhaul of a board many investors blame for investing heavily in the risky housing market.

Bischoff had been chairman of Citigroup since December 2007. When his replacement was announced, the ailing bank had suffered five straight quarters of losses and received $45 billion in government aid as it struggled to stay afloat amid the credit crisis.