Lloyds said the sale was in line with its strategy of becoming a low-risk, UK-focused bank JACK TAYLOR/AFP/Getty ImagesLloyds Banking Group has taken a loss of more than £100 million after selling a €4.9 billion portfolio of Irish mortgages to a consortium led by one of its biggest high street rivals. The former taxpayer-backed lender sold a book of Irish residential home loans to the Barclays-led group for £4 billion in cash, leaving it with a pre-tax loss of about £110 million. Barclays and two partners including Prudential M&G, the investment division of the British insurance company, won a bidding competition to buy the loans, sold by Lloyds as part of its continued disposal of businesses outside the UK. Several private equity groups and hedge funds had shown an interest. Barclays will sell much of the portfolio via securitisation, when debt is sold…

Source: The Times May 18, 2018 23:03 UTC