Lloyds sets aside further £500m PPI provision

The Financial Conduct Authority issued its largest ever retail fine of £117m to Lloyds Banking Group in June for failing to treat their customers fairly when handling PPI complaints between March 2012 and May 2013.

Despite PPI provisions, the bank saw a 28% rise in statutory profits to £958m in Q3, and saw underlying profit of £6,355 million, an increase of 6% on the first nine months of 2014.

Statutory profit before tax rose 33% to £2,151 million.

Earlier this month, the government announced it will be making shares in Lloyds Banking Group available for sale to the general public in spring next year, as it plans to "fully exit from its stake in Lloyds Banking Group" in the coming months.

At least £2 billion of shares will be available for sale to people located in the UK, with those applying to invest less than £1,000 given priority.

Commenting on the Q3 results, António Horta-Osório, Group Chief Executive, said:

"In the first nine months of this year we have continued to make strong progress towards becoming the best bank for customers and shareholders while delivering resilient financial performance and further strengthening our market leading capital ratios.

"These results, coupled with our simple, low risk, UK focused business model, underpin our confidence in the Group’s future prospects and our strategic direction."