LONDON, March 24, 2026, 11:44 GMT
Lloyds Banking Group shares held near 92.68 pence in London on Tuesday, as investors sized up a fresh date for Britain’s motor-finance compensation plan and another shaky session for bank stocks. The Financial Conduct Authority said it would spell out its approach on March 30, after markets close. 1
The timing matters. The FCA’s redress plan — compensation for customers who were not properly told about commissions on car loans — has been one of the biggest overhangs for a small group of lenders, and Reuters has reported both that the watchdog put the bill near 11 billion pounds last year and that Lloyds is among the banks with material exposure. 2
The stock is also trading in a worse tape. Reuters said the FTSE 100 was down 0.1% at a three-month low by late morning, UK banks were off 0.9%, and traders were still pricing in at least two Bank of England rate hikes this year as oil climbed back above $100 a barrel. Across Europe, heavyweight financials were down 1.4%; David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation, called the Strait of Hormuz risk an “unexpected switch”. 3
Shareprices.com showed Lloyds at 92.68p at 11:21 a.m., unchanged on the day after opening at 92.78p, touching 93.68p and dipping to 91.44p. The shares have swung sharply over the past three sessions, closing at 90.78p on Friday, rebounding to 92.68p on Monday, and still sitting well below the 52-week high of 114.55p. 1
Santander UK, Barclays and Close Brothers are among the other lenders caught in the same scandal. Lloyds had already lifted its provision to 1.95 billion pounds in October, Reuters reported then, underlining the size of the issue for one of Britain’s biggest motor-finance players. 4
FCA Chief Executive Nikhil Rathi told lawmakers the watchdog would set out its approach “shortly after markets close” next Monday. That gives investors at least one firm marker after months of guessing over who pays, how much, and how automatic any compensation might be. 5
Lloyds is trying to keep the focus on earnings beyond the claims bill. At a Morgan Stanley conference last week, CEO Charlie Nunn said the bank’s structural hedge — a book of longer-dated interest-rate positions used to smooth income — should be “very supportive” this year, and he repeated guidance for 1.5 billion pounds of net revenue uplift in 2026 and more than 1 billion pounds in 2027 from that book. 6
That sits alongside a stronger set of annual numbers. Lloyds reported 2025 pretax profit of 6.7 billion pounds in January, beat analyst forecasts, raised its 2026 return on tangible equity target — a bank measure of profit against shareholders’ core capital — to above 16%, and launched a 1.75 billion-pound buyback. 7
But there are other loose ends. Parliament’s Treasury Committee is still pressing Lloyds over a March 12 app glitch that briefly let some customers see other users’ transactions, after the bank apologised and said it was investigating the cause. 8
The macro backdrop is wobbling as well. Reuters reported on Tuesday that British business activity grew at the slowest pace in six months in March, one of the first clear signs the Middle East conflict is hitting the domestic economy, and Nick Rees, head of macro research at Monex, said “More data is needed” to judge how much higher energy costs spill into inflation. For Lloyds, the March 30 watchdog update may be the next trigger, but it is landing in a market that has turned jumpy again. 9
