On Thursday, Lloyds Banking Group reported a full-year profit of 5.97 billion pounds ($7.52 billion) for 2024, falling below analysts' expectations of 6.39 billion pounds. This drop was attributed to increased provisions for potential consumer redress related to a motor finance investigation.

The bank recognized remediation costs of 899 million pounds in 2024, up from 675 million pounds the previous year. Additionally, Lloyds allocated 700 million pounds for potential impacts from British regulators' inquiry into historical mis-selling of motor finance, compared to 450 million pounds set aside in the prior year.

Despite the profit miss, Lloyds announced a dividend increase to 3.17 pence per share for 2024 (from 2.76 pence in 2023) but below analysts' projections of 3.26 pence. Furthermore, the bank unveiled a 1.7 billion pounds share buyback, aligning with its goal of achieving a core capital ratio of approximately 13% by the end of 2026.

($1 = 0.7943 pounds)