Lloyds sets aside €3.6bn for claims

London: Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, set aside £3.2 billion (€3.6bn) to settle claims that clients were improperly sold loan insurance, breaking ranks with British competitors.

Lloyds reported a first quarter net loss of £2.4bn, compared with a profit of £169 million in the same period the previous year, the London-based lender said.

Antonio Horta-Osorio, 47, chief executive since Eric Daniels departed two months ago, also broke tradition by releasing the bank’s first detailed quarterly earnings. The shares fell the most in almost a year.

British banks last month lost a court bid to stop the country’s financial regulator imposing rules to compensate customers improperly sold loan insurance.