{"id":817615,"date":"2026-10-29T13:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T13:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/817615\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T13:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T13:50:12","slug":"lloyds-executive-criticises-healey-for-linking-bank-tax-rises-to-energy-bill-support-lloyds-banking-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/817615\/","title":{"rendered":"Lloyds executive criticises Healey for linking bank tax rises to energy bill support | Lloyds Banking Group"},"content":{"rendered":"

A senior Lloyds Banking Group executive has criticised the chancellor for linking bank tax increases <\/a>to energy bill support for UK households, as he warned the government against extending the higher levy beyond March 2028.<\/p>\n

Lloyds\u2019s chief financial officer, William Chalmers, acknowledged that the economic environment was \u201cchallenging\u201d but said the government should not seek to ease pressure on households at the expense of the banking sector as it provides loans that could fuel UK growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, it is important that the UK banking sector is able to deliver banking services to businesses and households and communities in a cost-effective way, in order to promote UK growth,\u201d he said, adding that it was also important that the sector stayed internationally competitive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe therefore very much hope that yesterday\u2019s tax increase is indeed a temporary measure, to help ensure the business environment remains consistent with supporting long-term investment,\u201d Chalmers told journalists during an earnings call on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

The comments came less than 24 hours after the chancellor, John Healey, announced plans to double the bank surcharge<\/a>, which is levied on top of corporation tax, to 6% from January. He said the increase would be \u201ctime-limited\u201d, lasting 15 months, in order \u201cto pay for immediate support<\/a> on energy bills\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, Chalmers questioned the government\u2019s decision to tie bank taxes to rising energy costs, amid concerns that doing so could open the door to an extension, or a further rise in the levy, after the 15 months expire.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope this tax rate is limited,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen we look forward, what impact, if any, will energy prices have on that? Well, I don\u2019t see an obvious linkage between energy prices and bank taxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, if anything, it makes it even more important that we\u2019re able to lend into the real economy and secure growth, which is the best defence against energy price impacts that might otherwise be there on the UK economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bills,Bills, banks, \u2018breathing space\u2019: what was in Burnham\u2019s first budget? – The Latest<\/p>\n

While the Treasury has promised to legislate for the 15-month tax-rise limit in the financial bill, senior bankers and industry lobbyists have privately questioned whether a further energy crisis could throw that limit out the window.<\/p>\n

Some pointed to Spain,<\/a> where a two-year windfall tax on banks, meant to alleviate cost of living pressures in 2022, was ultimately extended a further three years, and increased from 4.8% to 7% for the country\u2019s largest banks.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe are a major taxpayer,\u201d Chalmers said: \u201cWe paid around \u00a31.8bn of corporate taxes year to date, and it is important to us that we have a stable and a predictable tax regime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lloyds revealed on Thursday that its third-quarter pre-tax profits almost doubled from a year earlier, from \u00a31.2bn to \u00a32.3bn. However, that increase largely reflected the \u00a3800m hit it took last year after setting aside another \u00a3800m for compensation relating to the motor finance scandal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The bank\u2019s results were also supported by a 10% rise in net interest income, which measures the difference between what it charges borrowers and what it pays to savers, showing the bank continued to benefit from higher interest rates.<\/p>\n

Net interest income has risen across the banking industry, as inflation expectations \u2013 driven by higher fuel prices triggered by the war in the Middle East \u2013 pushed up interest rates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A senior Lloyds Banking Group executive has criticised the chancellor for linking bank tax increases to energy bill…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":817616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-817615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}