Widows boss sets fur flying

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Updated:

 

Sparks could fly when Lloyds TSB boss Orie Dudley returns to Britain after outspoken comments at a French conference.

The chief executive of the bank's asset management arm, Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, was reported as saying Lloyds could sell the business.

'They are not 100% persuaded that asset management is a core business. If they are not going to make the investment to build the global business, it would be logical to package Scottish Widows and sell it off,' he told journalists.

This surprised analysts, coming a year after Lloyds paid £7bn for Scottish Widows and merged its asset management business with that of Hill Samuel. Lloyds TSB chief executive Peter Ellwood insisted the group was 'totally committed' to Scottish Widows and SWIP.

One analyst said: 'Why would they shell out all that money just to flog it off straight away? I bet Sir Brian Pitman (chairman) will want to have words with Dudley pretty quickly.'

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