Lloyds beats lending targets
Part-nationalised British bank Lloyds said it had beaten targets laid down by the government for lending to small businesses, as authorities keep the country’s banks under pressure to lend out more to boost the faltering UK economy.
Last year, the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government struck a deal with the major British banks known as “Project Merlin,” in which the banks pledged to lend more to businesses in return for legislative restraint.
Lloyds, which is 40 per cent owned by the government after a state bailout during the 2008 credit crisis, said it lent out £12.5bn to small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMES) in 2011 – ahead of a £11.7bn target under the Merlin deal.