Writedowns push Lloyds deep into red

LONDON: Lloyds Banking Group Plc, the British lender that acquired HBOS Plc in January, posted a first-half loss of 3.1 billion pounds ($5.2 billion) because of writedowns on corporate and real estate loans.

The lender set aside 13.4 billion pounds for bad debts, more than the 11.3 billion-pound estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Provisions will drop "significantly" in the second half, the lender said in a statement yesterday.

The loss was driven by "the high levels of impairment, mainly from the HBOS property book" Chief Executive Officer Eric Daniels, 57, said in a telephone interview from London yesterday.