Lloyds Banking Group’s provisions are on the rise as the cost of living crisis makes its presence felt

The bank’s profits took a tumble as provisions for bad debt rose sharply, writes James Moore

Lloyds Banking Group is worried about economic uncertainty (PA)

The headline figures look nasty. Lloyds Banking Group might have been in happy town were it not for the ugly black mark of loan impairments, which took a big bite out of its earnings over the first three months of this year.

Last time around, some £360m came back to the bank from previous provisions; from loans it feared would go bad that ultimately didn’t.

At the start of the pandemic, all the big banks set aside large amounts of money fearing an economic crunch and an unemployment crisis. The crunch came. The unemployment crisis did not.