In July 2011, the chief executive Neville Richardson was replaced by Barry Tootell, who became acting chief executive of Co-operative Financial Services. Peter Marks, chief executive of Co-operative Financial Services' parent company The Co-operative Group cited Neville's desire to step down as the reason for the change. In September 2011, Co-operative Financial Services became the Co-operative Banking Group. In December 2011 Lloyds Banking Group announced that Co-operative Banking Group was its preferred bidder for the assets which it was selling to comply with EU competition regulations, and that the two parties would be entering into exclusive talks.