Lloyds Banking Group faced a stormy annual meeting in Edinburgh, with more than a fifth of investors voting against executive pay and TV presenter Noel Edmonds publicly berating the board.
More than over 20 per cent of the bank's shareholders cast ballots against the directors' remuneration report, which included a £6.42m pay packet for chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio.
It came after advisory group Institutional Shareholders Services recommended the report be rejected on the grounds that Horta-Osorio's pay packet is nearly 100 times that of the average worker. It also flagged an "unduly complex" bonus structure and discrepancies between "pay and relative performance".
Lloyds chairman Lord Norman Blackwell said: "The vote has been carried, however as I said we are disappointed that a number of shareholders did not support the resolution this year and we will of course note and respond to them."
The result will see Lloyds placed on a public register of firms in which over 20 per cent of shareholders have revolted over a resolution.
TV presenter Noel Edmonds was among investors posing hard-hitting questions on the fallout from one of Britain's worst banking frauds at the Reading branch of Lloyds' HBOS unit.
"Your brand values are trashed, the black horse has become a symbol of the dark forces in banking," Edmonds said. "You boasted about a landmark year, some might say it's been more like a skidmark year."
Six people, including two former HBOS bankers, were jailed last year for the fraud and the bank is still being investigated by Britain's National Crime Agency. An independent review has slipped into 2019.
Edmonds has been a vocal critic of Lloyds ever since the collapse of his company, Unique Group, which he alleged was "groomed, pillaged and destroyed" by the bank, leading to scores of job losses. He claimed the bank had reneged on promises to pay consequential losses to affected customers over and above any compensation due.
Lloyds has apologised to the victims of the HBOS Reading fraud and set aside £100m for compensation.
Edmonds has secured litigation funding from litigation finance firm Therium to pursue Lloyds through the courts as he seeks up to £60m in compensation from the banking giant and plans to lodge legal papers by the end of June. Mediation talks broke down late last year.
"I know I will win and I know that victory will be valuable to thousands of other people that have been so badly treated," Edmonds said.
Lord Blackwell said in response to Mr Edmonds' barrage of questions: "This isn't a show Mr Edmonds, it's an AGM.
"You've set out one version of events on what you believe happened. We have a different version of events, we do not agree.
"You wish to pursue it in court and I'm happy to leave it to the court to look at the evidence and I'm happy to let the judge decide on the basis of that evidence what the right outcome is and I hope you are too."
Lloyds has rejected the basis of Mr Edmonds' claim.
Further complaints came from customers who said they were paying more than they should for mortgages on so-called standard variable rates, to which homebuyers are often switched from cheaper initial rates.
Shareholder Lisa King said she could have saved £500 a month by switching, had she not been prevented from doing so by the bank, and that she and her husband have suffered "five years of living hell" as a result of the financial burden.
Lloyds chairman Blackwell said he was not familiar with her case but would ensure it was investigated.
Britain's financial watchdog this month said that about 30,000 borrowers in Britain who took out home loans before the 2008 crisis were now mortgage "prisoners", blocked from switching to better rates by the terms of their deals.
