Lloyds to appeal against loss in £1bn bond buy back court case June 3, 2015 Lloyds Bank yesterday failed in its bid to buy back high-yielding bonds from retail investors, after a high court judge said it had not met the conditions for an exchange. The enhanced capital notes (ECNs) are designed to bolster the bank’s capital buffers, and were issued shortly after the lender was bailed out by the [...]
Lloyds share sale sparks Treasury rift as George Osborne ignores warning on value for money June 1, 2015 The Treasury is in disagreement with its own advisers over the sale of shares in Lloyds Bank, as George Osborne seeks to fulfil his General Election pledge to sell a large chunk directly to retail investors. The sale could prove popular, but would also mean selling the shares at a discount – reducing the profit [...]
Lloyds shares to be sold to retail investors within 12 months, says Treasury June 1, 2015 The government has sold off more of its shares in Lloyds and is planning to sell to retail investors within the next year in "Tell Sid" style sell-off. Another one per cent has been sold off by the Treasury, reducing its stake in the bank to 19 per cent. "The trading plan has been a [...]
Lloyds and Aldermore lead SME loan rise May 28, 2015 Banklending to small businesses picked up at last in the first quarter, Bank of England figures showed yesterday. Net lending to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) rose by £615m in the first quarter of 2015. It marks a sharp reversal after years of decline – in the final quarter of 2014, net lending [...]
Banks have finally started lending to small and medium sized businesses May 28, 2015 Banks are finally starting to lend to Britain's small and medium sized businesses new data has shown, suggesting the widely criticised Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) could be beginning to work. Net lending to small and medium sized businesses in the first three months of this year rose by £635m, according to the Bank of England. [...]
Lloyds halfway out of bailout with £10bn sale May 12, 2015 More than half of the government’s stake in Lloyds has now been sold back to private investors, raising more than £10bn for the Treasury so far, the government announced yesterday. The latest sale of £500m of shares takes the taxpayer’s stake to below 20 per cent, compared with 41 per cent when the bailout [...]
The government has just sold off more Lloyds shares May 12, 2015 After being in government for just a few days, the Tories have sold another load of shares in taxpayer-backed Lloyds, reducing its stake in the bank to less than 20 per cent. It sold £500m shares in Lloyds under a trading plan to gradually sell off shares, that was first outlined in December. And this means [...]
Lloyds Bank profit increase pushes share price up, despite £660m loss over TSB sale May 1, 2015 The sale of TSB has come at a big price for Lloyds, but investors are undeterred. The figures Lloyds share price has gone up 3.38 per cent, after underlying pre-tax profit rose 21 per cent and beat analyst expectations. Lloyds Bank statutory profit before tax slipped 11 per cent in the first quarter of 2015, falling to [...]
UK’s big four banks face £19bn more in conduct fines April 27, 2015 Legal and compensation payouts are set to cost the big four UK banks another £19bn over 2015 and 2016, analysts at credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s said yesterday. Mounting bills come on top of the £42bn the four have already paid out over the past five years. The next nine largest lenders paid a further £6bn [...]
Vince Cable warns of potential hiccup in Lloyds Bank shares sell-off April 20, 2015 A competition enquiry could upset Conservative party plans to sell billions of pounds of Lloyds Banking Group shares to the public by May 2016, Liberal Democrat business secretary Vince Cable said yesterday. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is set to publish its final report on the personal current accounts and small business banking markets [...]