The chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group, António Horta-Osório, declared himself fully recovered on Thursday following his two-month absence from work, brought on, he said, after he did not sleep for five consecutive days.
The 47-year-old Portuguese-born banker admitted he took medical advice and checked himself into a Priory Group clinic because of the extent of his sleep deprivation.
Sounding upbeat but confessing to feeling "humbled" by the need to take time off work, Horta-Osório said he was ready to learn the lessons from the period that led to the shock announcement on 2 November that he needed a leave of absence to deal with "fatigue".
The bank announced on Wednesday that he would return to work on 9 January after being interviewed by every member of the Lloyds board to ensure that he was fit enough to resume the role that he only took on at the start of March.
Horta-Osório's said he had begun to have problems sleeping in September, as his workload grew amid concerns about the eurozone crisis. By October the trouble had worsened. On 27 October he took a few days off work to try to get some sleep – but ended up not sleeping for five consecutive days.
"With the benefit of hindsight I should have gone a bit slower," said Horta-Osório of his approach to the job. "Now I am 100% recovered." He said his doctor had told him: "This is like getting close to the end of your battery." He admitted he was still taking sleeping pills, but said he expected to come off them soon.
Horta-Osório, hired on an £8m a year package from Santander, took over as chief executive on 1 March after a two-month hand-over period and is now facing questions about whether he should be awarded his bonus for 2011. It is thought he will not be entitled to the full payment.
He had immediately sparked controversy by plunging the bank into a loss by taking a £3.2bn provision for payment protection insurance and embarking on a strategic review that will mean more than 40,000 jobs will have been axed from the bank since the rescue of HBOS in 2008.
Horta-Osório has spoken to Nathan Bostock, the senior RBS executive who reversed a decision to join Lloyds during his absence. "I've explained my disappointment to him," said Horta-Osório.
He is to change the structure he has had since March – when he ensured all top management reported to him directly – and will focus more on strategy. Lloyds shares have fallen 60% this year, to 24p – representing a £13bn loss on the taxpayer's 40% stake. Horta-Osório bought the equivalent of 600,000 shares on Thursday through American depository receipts.
