This isn’t the moment in the sun that lenders had been longing for, now that the worst potential economic consequences of the pandemic have been averted and rate rises are finally materialising.
Shares in Lloyds Banking Group, the UK’s largest mortgage lender, have been in purgatory since the middle of last year, bound from moving higher by fears of an economic slowdown, which could cause a rise in bad debts and choke the housing market.
In the tug-of-war between those concerns and the benefit of higher rates, the former is winning out, with Lloyds shares still trading at a 17 per cent discount to tangible net assets at the end of last month.
First-quarter figures should allay concerns. The lender has increased guidance
