Angie Risley (pictured), group HR director at Lloyds Banking Group (LBG), will no longer report directly to the group chief executive after a restructure meaning the HR, legal and audit departments will be merged into a single ‘corporate functions’ division.

Following a restructure of senior management at the bank, group chief executive António Horta-Osório has reduced his direct reporting lines from 14 to 10, meaning HR, legal, Audit, Halifax and Lloyds TSB heads will no longer report directly to him.

The company will create a new role of group corporate functions director, to whom Risley will report. She will continue to sit on the group executive committee.

A spokeswoman from LBG told HR that rather than reduce the influence of HR in the business; the changes have been designed to strengthen it.

She said: “The number of chief executive’s direct reports has been reduced from 14 to ten. Angie Risley continues to be a member of the group executive committee where the key decisions and strategy continue to be decided. HR will continue to have strong representation. There is no change to Angie’s role or responsibilities”

"On becoming chief executive it was more important for Horta-Osório to understand in detail all of the issues within the business and prioritise actions."

Horta-Osório, who has recently been absent from work, citing extreme exhaustion as the reason, said: "By creating the position of group corporate functions director, we will be able to bring better focus on areas such as HR, legal and secretariat and group audit which are essential to transforming the Group."

Lloyds Banking Group is looking for a candidate to fill the role of group corporate functions director although it was unable to confirm if the candidate would be appointed from within the Group, or externally.