Lloyds to sell off Irish loans

Lloyds Banking Group plans to sell about €2bn of mainly Irish property loans, the latest phase in extricating itself from Western Europe’s biggest property crash, according to a source with knowledge of the transaction.

The UK’s second biggest government-aided bank may have to take discounts on the sale, said the source, who declined to be identified because details of the sale are private. Ian Kitts, a Lloyds spokesman, declined to comment.

Lloyds moved in 2010 to close and run down the Irish unit it acquired two years earlier as part of its takeover of HBOS. The bank has taken £11.8bn (€14.9bn) of impairment charges on Irish loans since the country’s property market collapsed four years ago. That equates to 40% of its end-2008 Irish loan book.