Reports
Underlying Profits Improve At UK's Lloyds Banking Group
UK-listed Lloyds Banking Group announced a sharp improvement in its underlying profits in the third quarter of this year, while reporting robust progress to its wealth management business.
UK-listed Lloyds Banking Group announced a sharp improvement in its underlying profits in the third quarter of this year, while reporting robust progress within its wealth management business today.
For the banking group as a whole, it logged a total underlying profit of £840 million ($1.354 billion) in the three months to 30 September, double the £419 million profit figure logged in the same period a year ago. After various provisions and deductions, Lloyds reported a pre-tax statutory loss of £144 million in the three-month period to 30 September, but one narrower than the £607 million loss made a year before. The bank has a core Tier 1 capital ratio of 11.5 per cent.
The bank, in which the UK government holds a major stake, gave few specific numbers on the wealth management part of the business. However, it made some general comments on developments in this segment.
“In Wealth, Asset Finance and International our focus is on improving the customer experience and developing compelling customer propositions. In Wealth, customers are now getting faster access to advice and support thanks to a new Private Banking Client Centre. The new centre is making the referral process from Retail to our Wealth business simpler and swifter, and will be fully rolled out across the Lloyds TSB and the Halifax networks by the end of this year,” it said.
“We have delivered further above-market growth in customer deposits (excluding repos) in the period, reflecting good growth in both our Retail, and Wealth, Asset Finance and International divisions,” it said.
The bank is in the process of shedding assets and streamlining the business ahead of any possible disposal of public stakes.
“We remain confident of achieving our increased targets of £1.7 billion of savings in 2014 and £1.9 billion of annual run-rate cost savings by the end of 2014,” Lloyds said in its statement.
