Lloyds Banking Group boss Eric Daniels plans to retire from the bank in a year's time, the UK taxpayer-backed bank revealed today.
Mr Daniels - who has come under fire following the bank's troubled rescue of HBOS at the height of the financial crisis - will step down after leading the group as chief executive since June 2003.
Lloyds, which is 41% owned by the taxpayer, said it will launch a search internally and externally for his successor.
Lloyds did not give a date for his departure, but said he aimed to leave in a year's time. Mr Daniels, 59, will continue in the post until a replacement is appointed, it added.
The American's planned departure will mark a clean sweep at the top of the UK's major banks since the sector meltdown in 2008 and ends mounting speculation over his position at the helm.
Barclays announced earlier this month that investment banking head Bob Diamond would take over from John Varley as chief executive next year, while HSBC said on the same day that its executive chairman Stephen Green was leaving to join the Government as trade minister.
Royal Bank of Scotland's former chief Fred Goodwin quit soon after the bank's mammoth State bail-out.
