Lloyds Bank could offload its stake in St James’s Place, the FTSE-listed wealth manager, this week, according to a report in the the Independent on Sunday.

Lloyds, which acquired its 60 per cent stake through its takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland, is believed to be ready to place “all or some of it” in the market, according to the publication.

St James’s reported a pre-tax profit of £363.2 million ($548.4 million) last month, more than reversing a loss of £115.9 million a year before. Funds under management were £21.4 billion.

Meanwhile Lloyds Banking Group issued a statement last week which said that trading in the first 10 weeks of 2010 had been strong, and that its impairment provisions were running lower than previously expected. Last month it reported a pre-tax profit of £1.04 billion, up from £760 million.

It is no secret that both parties want to separate, and this latest report comes at a time when Lloyds’ management is finalising plans to spin off some of its property assets into a Real Estate Investment Trust, and looking to sell off a host of other assets including its Cheltenham & Gloucester brand, the publication reports. The asset sales are to meet conditions of EU state aid.

When contacted by WealthBriefing, St James’s Place declined to comment, and dismissed the reports as “market gossip”.

Lloyds’s share price closed at 61.10p yesterday, up 1.61 per cent, while St James’s Place closed at 248.9p, down 0.4 per cent.