Internal control

The board of directors is responsible for the establishment and review of the Lloyds TSB Group’s system of internal control, which is designed to ensure effective and efficient operations, quality of internal and external reporting, internal control, and compliance with laws and regulations. It should be noted, however, that such a system is designed to manage, rather than eliminate, the risk of failure to achieve business objectives. In establishing and reviewing the system of internal control the directors have regard to the nature and extent of relevant risks, the likelihood of a loss being incurred and the costs of control. It follows, therefore, that the system of internal control can only provide reasonable but not absolute assurance against the risk of material loss.

The directors and senior management are committed to maintaining a control-conscious culture across all areas of operation. This is communicated to all employees by way of published policies and procedures and regular management briefings. A requirement to comply with internal control risk policies is a key component of individual staff objectives expressed in the balanced scorecard. Key business risks are identified, and these are controlled by means of procedures such as physical controls, credit, trading and other authorisation limits and segregation of duties. In addition, there is an annual control self assessment exercise whereby the key businesses and head office functions review specific controls and attest to the accuracy of their assessments. The assessment covers all EWRM categories and is in accordance with the principles of the Combined Code. As in previous years, this exercise was completed for the year ended 31 December 2006. All returns have been satisfactorily completed and appropriately certified.

The effectiveness of the internal control system is reviewed regularly by the board and the audit committee, which also receives reports of reviews undertaken around the Lloyds TSB Group by its risk management function, including Group Compliance, and Group Audit. The audit committee receives reports from the Company’s auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, (which include details of significant internal control matters that they have identified) and has a discussion with the auditors at least once a year without executives present, to ensure that there are no unresolved issues of concern.