Lloyds directors who did HBOS deal face scrutiny

LONDON (Reuters) - Three directors at Britain's Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) who took part in the decision to buy HBOS may get a rough ride from shareholders next week after a proxy voting agency voiced concerns about their re-election.

Manifest, an independent governance and proxy voting agency, raised concerns to its clients about the re-election of Chairman Victor Blank, Archie Kane and Sandy Leitch at the annual general meeting on June 5, due to their participation in the part-nationalized bank's ill-fated takeover of HBOS.

"Manifest has significant concerns about the continued service of those directors who sat on the board during Sept 2008 when the (HBOS) deal was proposed and subsequently transacted," the body said on its website.

"We have concerns whether these directors fulfilled their duties of care under common law," a Manifest spokesman said on Wednesday.

Blank has already said he would step down in the next year.

Corporate governance body Pirc said it backed Blank's re-election due to his intention to step down, but said Lloyds should put its entire board up for re-election next year, following the trend set by HSBC (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Barclays (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research) this year.

(Reporting by Raji Menon; editing by Karen Foster)