Shares in Lloyds Banking Group jumped in opening trade on Monday after the bank announced over the weekend that Sir Victor Blank would step down as chairman before June 2010, in what could be the first move to restoring the bank’s credibility among shareholders after its much-criticised takeover of HBOS.

The bank also announced on Monday that it would this week launch an equity placing to raise money to redeem the £4bn in preference shares in the bank that have been held by the government since it decided to insure £258bn of Lloyds assets.