The UK bank had to set aside far less money to deal with impairments, which improved its bottom line in the latest quarter.

Lloyds Banking Group yesterday said its pre-tax statutory profit for the three months ending on 30 September stood at £1.42 billion ($1.72 billion), surging from £494 million a year earlier as impairment charges fell sharply.

The UK-listed bank said it achieved net income of £4.514 billion, down from £4.483, but operating costs rose to £2.3 billion, up from £2.155 billion. The profit result was boosted by a 72 per cent slump in underlying impairment charges, falling to £187 million from £668 million. 

Tax expense rose to £438 million from £82 million, the bank said in a statement. 

The bank’s cost/income ratio stood at 51.1 per cent at the end of September, up from 48.1 per cent a year before. At the end of September the bank had a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio of 14.6 per cent, up from 14.1 per cent at the end of 2022. Its liquidity coverage ratio was 142 per cent. 

Within the wealth business of Lloyds, deposits fell to £11.2 billion, down 8 per cent from the end of June this year.