Lloyds Banking Group says its wealth division recorded a slight rise in income in the third quarter of 2010, driven by rising client deposits and fund management inflows, while its international segment suffered falling income due to weak new lending activity.

The London-listed banking group issued few details or hard numbers in its interim statement today.

Impairments continued at a “high level” in the wealth and international business divisions, Lloyds Banking Group, which is partly state-owned, said.

“In Ireland, impairment levels are expected currently to continue at similar levels to the first half of the year reflecting the well-documented ongoing difficulties in the Irish economy. In Australia, while we observe a generally robust economy, there are significant geographical and sector variations and property related assets situated outside the principal metropolitan areas have been particularly weak,” the bank said.

“As a result, Wealth and International impairments in the second half of 2010 are expected to be similar to the first half, although still lower than the second half of 2009 which we continue to believe represented the peak for impairments in this division,” it said.

For the overall banking group, Lloyds said it has delivered “good underlying income growth in its core business” when measured on a combined businesses basis (excluding the impact of liability management exercises) in the third quarter.

The bank said it expected a “modest improvement” in the banking net interest margin in the second half of 2010.