Lloyds to suffer pain from HBOS's reckless landing

Part-nationalised British lender Lloyds Banking Group is set to bear the scars of reckless lending at its HBOS business today as it reports huge write-downs on bad debts.

Analysts predict the bank could announce a hit of up to £13bn (€15.2bn) as the acquisition of HBOS piles increasing amounts of toxic debt on the balance sheet, largely as a result of commercial property, business and mortgage loans turned sour.