Lloyds Bank profit boosted by home loan lending boom

The bank made a £1bn pre-tax profit in July, August and September, on net income of £3.4bn.

The profit was far ahead of last year’s £50m, and also nearly twice the £588m that analysts had predicted.

Lloyds took impairments of £301m, more than £400m less than expected, and said that its full-year impairments will be at the lower end of the £4.5bn to £5.5bn that it had earmarked for a tough year.

Lloyds has been cashing in on a boom in demand for mortgages.

The bank booked new mortgage lending of £3.5 bn over the quarter, following the biggest surge in quarterly applications since 2008.

Lloyds' chief executive, Antonio Horta-Osorio, said: "The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the global economy and on people and businesses within the UK has been unprecedented.

"We remain focused on working together with the Government and our regulators to ensure that we continue to support our customers in this challenging time.

"Although our performance has clearly been impacted by the pandemic and the associated challenging economic environment, I am pleased that we are now seeing an encouraging business recovery and, with impairments significantly lower, a return to profitability in the third quarter."