By Razak Musah Baba

LONDON--Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LLOY.LN) said Monday it has appointed Norman Blackwell as chairman of the banking group with effect from April 3, when current chairman Sir Winfried Bischoff retires.

Lord Blackwell was appointed chairman of Lloyds' Scottish Widows subsidiary in September last year. He has been a non-executive director of the 33% government-owned bank since June 2012 and is also chairman of global support services firm Interserve PLC (IRV.LN), a role he has held since January 2006.

He has also held positions within the U.K. Government. From 1986 to 1987, Lord Blackwell was a member of Margaret Thatcher's Prime Minister's Policy Unit and then served as head of the Prime Minister's Policy Unit under the government of John Major from 1995 to 1997, where he coordinated domestic policy development across government departments.

Mr. Bischoff announced his plans to retire "no later than the shareholders meeting in May 2014" in May. He joined the Lloyds board in September 2009.

Lloyds Banking Group PLC shares at 1125 GMT traded up 1 pence, or 1.1%, at 78 pence in a slightly lower FTSE 100 Index--down 0.7%.

--Ian Walker contributed to this article.

Write to Razak Musah Baba at razak.baba@wsj.com; Twitter: @Raztweet

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