Lloyds share price subdued amid PPI complaints data

Shares in Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) have fallen into the red today, giving up some of yesterday’s gains, as the Financial Ombudsman Service disclosed that payment protection insurance (PPI) was triggering up to 4,000 complaints a week. Lloyds, bailed out by the UK government during the financial crisis, has sold more such policies than any of its peers.

As of 09:19 BST, Lloyds’ share price had lost 0.92 percent to stand at 73.06p, underperforming the benchmark FTSE 100 index which is currently 0.02 percent better off at 6,263.79 points.

Today’s decline comes after the shares ended the previous session 1.82 percent higher at 73.74p, above the taxpayer’s break-even level of 73.6p, with the advance fuelling hopes that the government might move to reduce its remaining holding in the bailed-out lender.

The Financial Ombudsman Service reported today that it had received 340,899 new complaints in the year ended March 31, with PPI accounting for 56 percent, marking 188,712 complaints overall for the scandal, or 4,000 a week.

The Telegraph noted in its coverage of the news that Lloyds, together with its FTSE 100 peers RBS (LON:RBS), Barclays (LON:BARC) and HSBC (LON:HSBA), are involved in 56 percent of all complaints to the ombudsman.

In a separate development, Lloyds’ share price closed above the taxpayer’s break-even level of 73.6p for the first time this year in yesterday’s session. While the retail share sale has been put on hold, the move means that the government can offload shares via its trading plan to professional investors.

The rise in the shares came after earlier this month, a government official signalled that shares in Lloyds could be made available to the public as soon as this year. The comments came as the bank made a £130-million dividend payment to the government.

As of 10:00 BST, Thursday, 26 May, Lloyds Banking Group share price is 73.21p.