ANOTHER set of results from Lloyds Banking Group, another bumper provision for PPI (payment protection insurance) mis-selling.
There was certainly something of the broken record when Lloyds delivered its third quarter results yesterday. For although the Bank of Scotland owner could point to a fairly strong underlying performance in the three months to September 30, its provision of a further £1 billion for PPI was a bum note on an otherwise mellifluous update for customers and investors.
The latest charge takes to a whopping £17bn the amount that Lloyds has set aside for PPI mis-selling, meaning it has been hit for more than half of the £30bn which the scandal has cost the industry so far.
And there is no sign of Lloyds being able to draw a line under the matter just yet. Boss Horta-Osorio said the extension of the deadline for claims to 2019 means the final bill has yet to be finalised.
But in some ways Mr Horta-Osorio was justified in talking in upbeat tones yesterday.
The UK Government has pledged to sell off its remaining nine per cent stake in Lloyds in the next 12 months, signalling the return to the taxpayer a cumulative £17bn, including dividends, of the £20.5bn shelled out by the public to bail out the bank at the height of the financial crisis.
Then there is the prospect of further dividends being paid to shareholders this year and in the future.
On those counts alone Lloyds can claim to be making far from progress than the taxpayer-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland.
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