Stung by losses, Lloyds to write off £13 bn debt

LONDON: British entity Lloyds Banking Group will write off as much as ��13 billion on its loan to commercial property, businesses and mortgage holders, a media report has said.

���Lloyds Banking Group is poised to write off as much as ��13 billion on its loans to commercial property, businesses and mortgage holders as the crisis engulfing the taxpayer-backed bank deepens,��� a newspaper reported on Sunday. The report said first-half results due to be posted in three weeks would show that its losses are accelerating, in spite of recent suggestions that the worst of the recession is over.

According to the publication, the write-off for the first six months of the year would match the losses recorded by Lloyds TSB and HBOS in 2008, as they consummated their disastrous merger.

���The expected bad debt charge is almost twice what Lloyds paid for HBOS when they came together under the government���s watch last autumn. Total write-offs for this year at Lloyds could exceed ��20 billion,��� the report noted.

The report also said bad debts come as the bank struggles to find a new chairman to replace Victor Blank, who has agreed to stand down following pressure from UKFI, the government���s shareholder body, which owns 43% of the bank���s shares.