[Osem]

Lloyds Banking Group has narrowed its pre-tax losses for 2012 to £570m, from £3.5bn the previous year.

The group, which is 40%-owned by the government, said its losses were primarily because of making provisions of £3.6bn for the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI).

This included £1.5bn set aside in the fourth quarter for PPI.

Chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio was awarded a bonus of £1.5m in deferred shares.

These shares will not be released until 2018, Lloyds said, and only if the government sells at least a third of its stake above 61p - the price at which the stake is booked on the national accounts - or if the share price stays above 73.6p for a given period of time

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21626461