Lloyds share price steady as report unveils banks’ misconduct costs

Britain’s biggest banks, including Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY), set aside nearly £53 billion over the past 15 years to cover misconduct costs, a new report has shown. The bailed-out lender booked £14 billion between 2010 and 2014, almost twice the amount of any other bank over that period, reflecting the bank’s hefty bill for payment protection insurance.

Lloyds’ share price has been steady in today’s session, having added 0.61 percent to 66.31p as of 08:58 BST, and slightly outperforming the benchmark FTSE 100 index which has turned positive following a downbeat start and currently stands 0.25 percent higher at 6,219.77 points. The bank’s shares have lost just under 10 percent of their value in the year-to-date, as compared with a 0.22-percent drop in the Footsie.

A study by the independent think-tank New City Agenda has shown that the top 10 scandals in UK retail banking cost lenders a total of £52.7 billion between 2000 and 2015, pressuring their profitability and payouts to shareholders.
“The profitability of UK retail banks has been imperilled by persistent misconduct and an aggressive sales based culture,” New City Agenda said in the statement. “This has made every citizen poorer through our pension funds and our ownership of the bailed out banks.”
The think tank noted that Lloyds, bailed out by the UK government during the financial crisis and still part-owned by the taxpayer, had booked “a staggering” £14 billion during the 2010-2014 period, as compared to dividends of just £500 million. The company, which used to pay some of the biggest dividends in the UK before the financial crisis, only restored shareholder payouts last year.
Lloyds is scheduled to update investors on its first-quarter performance on April 28, ahead of the group’s annual general meeting on May 12.
As of 09:31 BST, Monday, 11 April, Lloyds Banking Group share price is 66.31p.