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In a
memo to employees seen by Reuters, Horta-Osorio addressed a
report by the The Sun newspaper earlier this month that said the
married chief executive ran up a 3,826 pound ($4,962) hotel bill
while spending time with another woman.
"My personal life is obviously a private matter as it is for
anyone else. But I deeply regret being the cause of so much
adverse publicity and the damage that has been done to the
Group's reputation," Horta-Osorio wrote in the memo.
The tabloid story alleged Horta-Osorio had improperly claimed
the personal spending as a business expense, but the executive
said in the memo the bank had cleared him of any wrongdoing
regarding his expenses.
Lloyds has said its Chairman Norman Blackwell had reviewed the
allegations and was also satisfied Horta-Osório had paid his own
personal expenses while attending a Singapore conference.
The Lloyds chief executive, who is Portuguese, has run the bank
for the past five years and is highly regarded for turning
around the lender after it struggled following the financial
crisis.
Top investors in the bank had expressed concerns Horta-Osório
might leave sooner than anticipated following the press
scrutiny.
"... please be assured that I am as committed as ever to leading
the Group forward to deliver our strategy and to meet our future
ambitions," Horta-Osorio said in the memo on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Lawrence White Editing by Sinead Cruise and Mark
Potter)
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