Lloyds Banking Group has reported a statutory loss before tax of £439 million in the first six months of the year.
This includes a further provision for legacy Payment Protection Insurance costs of £700 million in the second quarter, following an additional £375 million provision in the first quarter.
Underlying profit was down 7% to £2,977 million, as a result of underlying income falling 11% to £8,602 million.
“These half-year results show a continuation of what we delivered in the first quarter: significant balance sheet reshaping and another resilient performance against a backdrop of economic challenges and a lack of public confidence in our industry, said António Horta-Osório, Lloyds Banking Group’s group chief executive.
“We are on track to deliver our strategic aims and we are making significant progress with our financial targets. We are building a stronger and safer group: one with a more robust balance sheet, lower exposure to risk and with lower operating costs. This is enabling us to increase our support to UK households, businesses and communities.
“Lloyds Banking Group is a very different organisation to our main competitors. We will continue to demonstrate that in our actions and our words. We believe there is real competitive advantage in moving faster to become a ring fenced UK retail and commercial bank, and this will be another important step toward providing sustainable returns for our shareholders and support to our customers and communities.
“By doing that we will return the bank to profitability and that will ultimately give taxpayers the opportunity to get their money back.”
Lloyds Black Horse drove the PPI sales very hard, so without the massive profits made from that and now the money set aside to repay it, it's little wonder they are in the red.
However the margins that they have on their mortgages must surely help? 6.89% for a 90% LTV mortgage? Oh, come on….