Lloyds Banking Group revealed seven separate public commitments to address some of the big issues facing Britain today

LONDON, 6-3-2014 — /EuropaWire/ — Lloyds Banking Group revealed seven separate public commitments to address some of the big issues facing Britain today

Helping Britain Prosper Plan:

Today, for the first time, Lloyds Banking Group has revealed seven separate and significant public commitments to address some of the big issues facing Britain today. The commitments, and the detailed targets that underpin its Helping Britain Prosper Plan, are being announced alongside the Group’s Annual Report and Accounts, and Responsible Business Report, and illustrate the importance the Group places on the key role it believes it plays in helping Britain Prosper.

The Commitments*:

1. We’ll help more customers get on the housing ladder – and more customers climb up it
2. We’ll help our customers plan and save for later life
3. We’ll take a lead in financial inclusion to enable all individuals to access, and benefit from, the products and services they need to make the most of their money
4. We’ll help businesses to start up and scale up and we will procure responsibly
5. We’ll help businesses and individuals succeed with expert mentoring and training
6. We’ll be the banking group that brings communities closer together to help them thrive
7. We’ll better represent the diversity of our customer base and our communities at all levels of the Group

*Please see the full Helping Britain Prosper Plan for 26 detailed metric

Held to account:
Illustrating the Group’s ambition that the Helping Britain Prosper Plan is fully embedded, each of its major Divisions has a clearly defined and measurable responsibility and will be held fully to account for delivery of their individual components with the Plan. These will be independently measured and monitored.

Bold public commitments:
António Horta-Osório, Chief Executive of Lloyds Banking Group, said: “The Helping Britain Prosper Plan incorporates bold, public commitments to help address some of the big issues facing Britain today. It demonstrates to customers that their concerns are our concerns. It’s about putting customers at the heart of everything we do as an organisation, wherever we do business. Being the best bank for customers means offering simple, relevant products to people at all levels of society across Britain. Not just those enjoying relative prosperity; but also those facing financial difficulties, coping with disabilities, striving to buy their first home or find their first job. To be the ‘best’ we must help all of our customers.”

About Lloyds Banking Group’s Helping Britain Prosper Plan:
In developing the Helping Britain Prosper Plan over the past year, Lloyds Banking Group has worked with a range of stakeholders and key opinion formers, including The Group’s independent stakeholder panel.

Working with the professional services organisation EY, the seven commitment areas in the Plan were identified based on a number of external benchmarks including; the Legatum Prosperity Index, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Better Life Index and the UK Quality of Life Indicators. This has allowed the Group to identify the best ways in which it can help Britain prosper through specific business activities and investments. The metrics and targets supporting the Helping Britain Prosper Plan articulate the Group’s ambition to measuring its progress.

The Plan provides a set of metrics supporting each commitment area that will be focused on where the Group can make the biggest difference and where it has the power to influence the most change for the benefit of customers and communities across the UK. Progress against each target will be independently measured and monitored.

Lloyds Banking Group is the first bank to measure its economic and social impact in this way.

About Lloyds Banking Group
With a heritage of making a difference within its communities that spans decades, last year Lloyds Banking Group invested £85m in UK Communities. Through its branches and businesses the Group has the potential to reach every family and community in the UK, and places immense value on its commitment to helping Britain prosper. Driven by its desire to give back to the communities in which it operates, the Group supports a wide range of ground breaking programmes. Lloyds Scholars, Money for Life, Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland Community Fund, the School for Social Entrepreneurs, Business Connectors, Lloyds Bank Foundations and the Bank of Scotland Foundation are some, but not exhaustive, examples of the programmes it supports.

For further information:
Heather Scott
Head of Media Relations, Communities and Sustainable Business
Telephone: 07770 643840
E-mail: heatherscott@halifax.co.uk