In a presentation, the banking giant, which also owns Halifax and Bank of Scotland and employs 65,000 staff across both banks, told unions its workers’ finances fared better than those of the wider public in recent years.
Mark Brown, general secretary of the Affinity union, which represents Lloyds’ employees but is not recognised by the group, told the Financial Times (FT), external the bank “had no legitimate reason accessing staff accounts without permission”.
“The fact that staff are also personal account holders doesn’t give the bank carte blanche to do what it wants,” he told the newspaper, which first reported the story.
A person familiar with the talks said union officials raised concerns the comparison may have been used to justify a lower pay offer to staff. These claims have been denied by Lloyds.
Employees are actively encouraged to bank with Lloyds and sign up for accounts as a condition of employment.
Correspondence between Lloyds and the Accord union, seen by the FT, noted concerns about the comparison.
It stated accounts belonging to 36,000 staff, who worked more than four years for the organisation, had been reviewed and the company “concluded we are more financially resilient than the general public. This was used to justify a lower pay award.”
But a trade union official “personally challenged this, highlighting that our loyalty in banking shouldn’t be used against us in pay negotiations”. The response from LBG [Lloyds Banking Group] was ‘no comment.'”
Lloyds’ offer to junior colleagues is worth between 7% and 9%, with their pay rising by £1,200 in both 2026 and 2027, to a minimum of £27,400.
The deal was approved by the recognised Unite and Accord unions but rejected by Affinity.
The Accord union challenged Lloyds on its use of customer data in making the comparison, but general secretary Ged Nichols said he did not believe the group acted inappropriately.
Overall the analysis was “really helpful” and the union was confident it negotiated a good pay offer, with two thirds of members voting in favour, he said..
A Lloyds spokesman said the banking group was “pleased that members of our recognised unions have voted to support our competitive multi-year pay proposal for 2026 and 2027 by a significant majority.”