Lloyds, which has taken over rival HBOS, gave few details about its private banking results.

The bank has received public funds from the UK government to bolster its balance sheet. Like the rival group Royal Bank of Scotland and banks in the US and Europe, Lloyds has seen its financial strength hit by the global credit crunch.

Meanwhile, at its wealth management segment, which covers investments, Lloyds said new funds under management rose by 22 per cent, while banking deposits increased by 20 per cent in 2008 from the previous year. Deposits were £5.9 billion at the end of December.

“Wealth management continues to make good progress with its expansion plans to deliver an enhanced wealth management offer comprising private banking, open architecture portfolio management, retirement planning, insurance and estate planning services,” the bank said in a statement.

Lloyds, formerly known as Lloyds TSB, agreed to take over HBOS, which owns part of wealth manager St James’s Place, last September. St James's Place reported results earlier this week. HBOS also holds the UK asset manager Insight Investment.

For the entire group, Lloyds said it made a pre-tax profit for 2008 of £807 million, a 75 per cent slump from its £3.29 billion profit for 2008. It booked a total impairment charge of £3.012 billion, up from £1.796 billion in 2007.

Operating expenses for the total group rose to £6.053 billion from £5.57 billion.

At the end of last year, Lloyds had a Tier 1 capital ratio – an important measure of a bank’s financial strength – of 9.8 per cent.

Last September, Lloyds announced it was acquiring HBOS, taking on £17.9 billion of tangible net asset value for a consideration of £7.7 billion. Lloyds said HBOS's preliminary results for last year were in line with its 13 February trading update, making a pre-tax statutory loss of £10.8 billion.