Pick-up in UK lending under Bank of England credit plan

Lending through the Bank of England’s flagship credit programme rose in the second quarter, led by Lloyds Banking Group and Nationwide Building Society, with banks expecting further expansion through the rest of 2013.

Lending rose £1.6bn (€1.88bn) in the second quarter from the first three months of the year, the central bank said in a report on use of the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) yesterday.

Nationwide and Lloyds lent a combined £3.5bn, while Royal Bank of Scotland and Banco Santander UK unit paced declines.