Lloyds Banking Group see boost despite Brexit

Lloyds Banking Group defied expectations of a squeeze on earnings after Britain’s surprise vote to quit the EU by reporting third-quarter profits largely unchanged from a year earlier.

Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, the first major British bank to report results that fully capture the period after the referendum, said underlying pretax profits were £1.9bn (€2.13bn) compared with £1.97bn a year earlier.

Lloyds’ chief executive Antonio Horta-Osório said he had not seen much impact on consumer or corporate activity from Brexit, but that in the longer run investment would be needed to counteract any economic slowdown.