Taxpayer backs fifth of Lloyds mortgages

More than 20% of home loans from Lloyds Banking Group, Britain’s largest mortgage bank, have been included among the group’s most toxic assets and pushed into the government’s insurance scheme in an effort to insulate the firm from the full impact of further house price falls.

Hundreds of thousands of mortgages, worth £74bn, have been included among £260bn of assets placed under the taxpayer protection scheme as part of a deal agreed late on Friday night that could see the government’s stake in Lloyds rise to as much as 77%. The value of home loans to receive a taxpayer guarantee represents 21% of the Lloyds’ residential mortgage book, which is valued at £352bn.

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