Lloyds says on track for good 2010

LONDON, (Reuters) - Lloyds had a good third quarter and is on track for a decent financial performance in 2010 as bad debts fall and margins improve, the part-nationalised British bank said on Tuesday.

“We continue to expect the group to deliver a good financial performance for the full year,” the bank said in a statement. Some UK banks do not report quarterly results.

Lloyds, Europe’s fourth biggest bank by market value, said impairments in the second half are “expected to fall moderately” from the first half, in line with its recent guidance, and margins should show “modest” improvement.

Lloyds, 41 percent owned by the UK government after needing a bailout after buying trouble rival HBOS, returned to profit in the first half of this year as bad debts fell more sharply than expected and margins improved.