Lloyds Banking Group named Bank of the Year

Lloyds Banking Group has been named ‘Bank of the Year' at the Real FD/CBI Excellence Awards, in recognition of its support for UK businesses.

The award, supported by the CBI and the Insitute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), is one of the most high profile across the industry, canvassing 1,000 finance directors for their views on companies that provide services to UK businesses, including the level of support they have received from their bank, and the support they believe they will receive in the future. As well as banks, the awards focus on the service provided by auditors, professional advisors and Government departments.

Lloyds Banking Group's win through its Lloyds TSB Commercial and Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets teams - for the seventh year running - highlights the consistent support it has provided to businesses, including SMEs and larger Corporates, through the full course of the economic cycle - before the downturn; during it; and now as the recovery gathers pace. It follows the Group's recent announcement that it lent £10.3 billion to businesses in the first three months of 2011 and £49 billion during 2010.

Truett Tate, Group Executive Director, Wholesale, Lloyds Banking Group said: "We want to be the best bank for businesses and when businesses themselves recognise our support, that's a very positive signal that we are doing the right thing. There's no doubt that times are tough for businesses across the UK, and recovery is proving slow. But we are pulling out all the stops to ensure that our customers have all they need to fulfil their ambitions, whether that's finance or simple advice and guidance.

"Winning this award seven years running speaks volumes about the unfaltering support we are providing for our customers. We helped more than 105,000 start ups get off the ground last year and we continue to meet the requirements of businesses, throughout the economic cycle, whether they are SMEs or larger Corporates."

In winning the ‘Bank of the Year' category, Lloyds Banking Group beat a number of competitor banks, including Barclays, RBS Group and HSBC.