Lloyds in new Treasury talks; Crackdown on US rating agencies - papers

Lloyds Banking Group, the part-nationalised banking group, confirmed today that it has gone into talks with the Treasury about changing the terms of its participation in the Government's insurance scheme for toxic assets.

Lloyds signed up to the scheme in March, giving it the option of ringfencing up to £260 billion of toxic assets - mostly related to its acquisition of HBOS, the stricken mortgage lender, the Times writes. Since then, Lloyds, which is 43 per cent owned by the Government, has been looking at ways to bypass the scheme, chiefly by raising funds through a rights issue or by selling off businesses. Full story...