3rd Quarter Results
Improved underlying Group performance in a challenging environment
· Underlying profit increased by 148 per cent to £1,904 million
· Net interest margin in line with plan at 1.93 per cent (first nine months of 2011: 2.10 per cent)
· Further reductions in costs (down 5 per cent) and impairment (down 40 per cent)
· Statutory loss before tax of £583 million, including a further PPI provision of £1 billion in the third quarter
Core business continuing to deliver returns above the cost of equity
· Return on risk-weighted assets of 2.61 per cent (first nine months of 2011: 2.48 per cent)
· Loans and advances to customers marginally down in third quarter at £426.0 billion (30 June 2012: £428.5 billion)
· Net interest margin of 2.32 per cent; stable in third quarter
· Credit quality remains strong: impairment reduced 40 per cent to £1,351 million; impairment charge as a percentage of average advances improved to 0.41 per cent (first nine months of 2011: 0.66 per cent)
Investing in our core business to improve service, and support our customers and the UK economy
· Lowest FSA reportable banking complaints (excl. PPI) of major UK banks at 1.4 per 1,000 accounts
· Net Promoter Scores up in all the three main retail brands
· SME net lending growth of 4 per cent in the last 12 months against market down 4 per cent
· UK's largest lender to first-time buyers, helping around 40,000 customers buy their first home so far in 2012
· First bank to access Funding for Lending scheme: £1 billion drawn in September; lending commitments to SMEs increased by £1 billion to £13 billion; £500 million commitment made to first-time buyer market
Further good progress on initiatives to simplify and reshape the business
· Simplification run-rate cost savings increased by £418 million in the nine months to end September to £660 million
· Non-core assets reduced by £31 billion to £110 billion, ahead of 2012 full year guidance
· 12 countries or overseas branches now exited, or exit announced, out of target of 15 by the end of 2014
Strong balance sheet: improved capital ratios, continued above-market deposit growth and strong liquidity
· Strong capital position: core tier 1 ratio continues to improve and is now 11.5 per cent; total capital ratio increased to 16.6 per cent, confident we will meet future regulatory capital requirements
· Continued above-market deposit growth of 6 per cent year-on-year
· Group loan to deposit ratio further improved to 124 per cent (core: 102 per cent)
· Greater balance sheet flexibility, with surplus liquidity deployed in repurchase of over £10 billion of term funding in Q3
Guidance reaffirmed or improved
· Full year 2012 Group net interest margin expected to be around 1.93 per cent, in line with previous guidance
· Cost base of close to £10 billion in full year 2012, two years ahead of original plan; reduction of around £1 billion since 2010
· 2012 impairment charge guidance further lowered to approximately £6 billion
· Full year 2012 non-core asset reduction target further increased to around £38 billion, £13 billion more than original target; continue to expect non-core asset reduction to be capital generative
· Expect to reach our long-term loan to deposit ratio target of 100 per cent for the core business in the first quarter of 2013, at the same time as reaching a 120 per cent loan to deposit ratio for