Lloyds TSB - Some Pain....

The Lloyds TSB profit announcement this morning was interesting. Their overall before tax profits have dipped from £4.25 billion last year to £4 billion this year. After tax profits are up about £400 million to £3.3 billion. It's UK retail banking's profits rose by £250 million to £1.8 billion.

All this prompted the BBC's business correspondent to report that Lloyds drop in profits was because they were "feeling the pain of the sub prime loan situation in the America". What the bank's own press release says is "Our prudent approach to risk ensured we experienced minimal impact from the US sub-prime fall-out."

Some pain!