LONDON, March 17, 2026, 18:31 GMT
Lloyds Banking Group shares climbed 1.37% to 96.20 pence on Tuesday, brushing past renewed scrutiny by British lawmakers after last week’s app glitch. The stock joined gains across UK banks as investors looked ahead to the Bank of England meeting this week.
This shift is catching attention—Lloyds remains a bellwether for how traders gauge the UK rate trajectory. On Tuesday, J.P. Morgan deferred its forecast for the next BoE rate cut out to the first quarter of 2027, pushing the market’s focus firmly onto higher-for-longer rates, not the bank’s recent operational stumble.
It was a broad move across the sector. UK bank shares climbed 1.3%, marking the biggest gain for the FTSE 100. Earlier in February, both Barclays and NatWest had lifted their return on tangible equity targets. Return on tangible equity, or ROTE, measures a bank’s profit against the capital invested by shareholders.
Lloyds isn’t off the hook yet. Meg Hillier, who chairs the Treasury Committee, has sent a letter to Chief Executive Charlie Nunn, pressing for answers on the March 12 glitch: what triggered it, what customer data was compromised, how many people got hit, and if compensation is planned.
Lloyds issued an apology on March 12, stressing that account security wasn’t compromised and customers didn’t need to take any action. The bank hasn’t revealed how many were impacted. This comes as digital resilience gets fresh attention; since January 2023, nine big UK banks and building societies have racked up at least 803 hours of unplanned outages through February 2025.
Lloyds revealed further buyback moves, according to an RNS. On March 17, the group repurchased 8.94 million ordinary shares at an average of 96.5224 pence each, with the intention to cancel them as part of the programme that began January 29.
The bank entered the week with upgraded guidance on deck. Back in January, it posted a 2025 pretax profit figure of 6.7 billion pounds—a 12% increase—and bumped its 2026 ROTE goal above 16%. “Our continued business momentum and strategic delivery enable us to upgrade guidance,” Nunn said. Reuters
Analysts were picking up on the trend. Peter Rothwell, who leads banking at KPMG UK, pointed to “earnings resilience lasting longer than initially expected.” But Gary Greenwood at Shore Capital flagged another angle: banks are still under pressure, with “an expectation that they grow their loan books faster” to help prop up the economy. Reuters
There’s a risk now that rate dynamics could shift from being a tailwind to a headwind. J.P. Morgan lowered its UK growth projection for 2026 to 0.6%, down from the previous 0.8%, and has bumped up its inflation forecast. Over in motor finance, the cloud of uncertainty hasn’t cleared. The Financial Conduct Authority will end its freeze on complaint processing come May 31. Lloyds, for its part, has already warned that the fallout will impact its 2025 numbers.
Lloyds is still in the clear for now. Shares are up after Tuesday’s bump, but they’re still sitting 16.06% under the 52-week high. The next big hurdle: will the BoE’s messaging, plus Lloyds’ strategy update in July, convince investors to stick around?
