Top staff at HBOS were sitting on a £1.4m (€1.8m) paper profit after spending their bonuses on shares in the UK mortgage lender last Thursday, as HBOS led the way for London-listed financial stocks with a 17% rise as trading resumed today after the Easter break.

Executive directors, led by chief executive Andy Hornby, and HBOS’ top 250 senior managers last Thursday demonstrated their confidence in the lender by acquiring roughly 1.3 million shares at £4.4625 per share, HBOS’ lowest ever closing price the previous day.