Shareholders back Lloyds' record cash call

Shareholders overwhelmingly voted in favour of Lloyds Banking Group's UK record £13.5 billion cash call today.

The vote - at a general meeting at Birmingham's NEC - will allow the part-nationalised bank to complete a £22.5 billion fundraising to sidestep the Government's toxic asset protection scheme (APS).

But despite backing the cash call, shareholders demanded to know why they had been kept in the dark until this week over a £25.4 billion emergency loan to HBOS from the Bank of England.

The mammoth support was given at the height of last autumn's crisis at the time Lloyds investors were being asked to vote on the rescue takeover of HBOS - but had been kept secret to prevent further damage to the wider banking system.

There are concerns that the decision to conceal the loans hid the true extent of the troubles at HBOS.

One investor said the rescue takeover of HBOS was at risk of creating a "Frankenstein's monster dragging down Britain's banking system for years" and accused the board of "gratuitously destroying thousands of British jobs".