The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.
Bloomberg
Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Britain’s largest mortgage lender, said it expects to maintain lending margins next year and reassured investors on its outlook for dividends.
The bank’s net interest margin should hold steady around 2.7 percent in 2017 even as the Bank of England keeps interest rates at record-low levels, and the firm will generate enough capital to pay a higher dividend for this year, Chief Financial Officer George Culmer said on a call with analysts on Wednesday. The stock rose, after earlier dropping as much as 3.8 percent on a decline in third-quarter profit.
“As we look forward now, we feel pretty good†about the outlook for net interest margin, Culmer said on the call. The measure, which is the difference between income from lending and the cost of funding, was 2.69 percent in the third quarter.
Chief Executive Officer Antonio Horta-Osorio, 52, is attempting to navigate record-low interest rates and a potential economic slowdown sparked by the country’s vote to leave the European Union. He told analysts the BOE’s 100 billion-pound ($120 billion) Term Funding Scheme, cutting interest rates for depositors and removing expensive wholesale market funding will help the bank to maintain its profit margins.