Lloyds TSB £387m writedown

Lloyds TSB has announced a £387 million writedown from the credit crunch – substantially smaller than its rivals.

The bank is also not heading to investors as other banks have down in recent weeks with rights issues.

The firm is also expecting to record double digit growth in the first quarter of 2008 – excluding the results of what it calls "the impact of the market dislocation".

Eric Daniels, Lloyds TSB group chief executive, said: "Despite the more challenging market conditions, the group remains firmly on track to deliver a good performance for the first half of 2008.

"Our strong liquidity and funding capability have ensured that the group has continued to raise wholesale funding at market leading rates.

"This gives the group a competitive advantage and has enabled our corporate and retail relationship banking businesses to achieve strong levels of business growth in the first quarter of the year, capturing market share in a number of key areas while improving product margins."

He added: "Our strategy and focus remains on continuing to build strong customer relationships, whilst improving the efficiency and effectiveness of our operations."

Over the last few weeks both Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) have both turned to shareholders to raise funds through rights issues.

However, both firms were forced to admit much higher writedowns, of £2.8 billion for HBOS and £2 billion for RBS, due to the credit crunch and the US subprime crisis

Daniel Barnes