Profits at Lloyds Banking Group raised / are rising / have risen (1) 46% this quarter due to /

because / since (2) higher interest charges for borrowers, but the bank expects margins to
drop over the rest of this year. Like most of Britain’s big high street banks, the group reported
better-than-expected profits for the first three months of the year.
It is expected that interest rates will have risen / are rising / were risen (3) further to 4.5% by
the end of next week. Even if / Although / However (4), Lloyds said the impact of a higher
base rate would have / would be / would have been (5) offset by increased competition.
Lloyds said it is recording / recorded / had recorded (6) a £2.2bn drop in deposits to £473bn
since December. The CEO warned that Lloyds’ net interest margin – a key measure of
profitability and grown / growth / growing (7) – was probably / was likely to / was possibly
to (8) drop over the rest of the year. “Economic / Economical / Economist (9) forecasters
expect a big margin during this quarter,” he said.
Lloyds’ strong quarterly performance came despite it had to / having to / to have to (10) put
aside £243m for a potential rise in customer defaults. That was 37% higher than / that / then
(11) a year earlier.
NatWest saw a 50% boom / recover / improve (12) in profits to £1.9bn in the first three
months of the year. That is in spite of the mini-banking crisis in March, which triggered / has
triggered / was triggered (13) by interest rate rises. The rises boosted UK bank earnings, but
also raised fears over unrealised losses in the investment portfolios of more vulnerable
lenders.
These fears resulted in / to / into (14) the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank
at the start of March, and later led to the emergency rescue of Switzerland’s second-largest
bank, Credit Suisse, which lost billions dollars / billion of dollars / billions of dollars (15) in
one day.

Lloyds Banking Group accused / had accused / has been accused (1) of “filling the pockets
of already overpaid bankers” after proposing increases for top bosses.
The bank reveals / has revealed / revealed (2) last Wednesday that staff would share a £446m
bonus pot for their work in 2022, despite it reported / reporting / to report (3) flat annual
profits, after an increase to / in / for (4) the money put aside for a potential rise in defaults.
Lloyds has proposed increasing payouts for bosses – including Lloyds’ CEO Nunn and its
chief financial officer, William Chalmers.
Chalmers’ maximum pay is likely to / is probably / is possible to (5) rise from £4.7m to
£6.3m, partly due to / because / for (6) a rise in his potential bonus, which could now be
worth 140% of his salary, up from 100%.
Economic / Economical / Economics (7) analysts reported that the banking group made flat
profits of £6.9bn for the year, in line with average estimates from analysts, despite a near-
50% jump / recover / improve (8) in net interest income to £14bn – billion of pounds /
billions pounds / billions of pounds (9) more than last year – which accounts for the
difference between what the bank pays out to savers and what it charges its loan and
mortgage customers / consumers / costumers (10).
The increase in annual net interest income was offset, in part, by a significant drop in other
income. However / Even if / Although, (11) Lloyds was also forced to put aside £1.5bn to
protect itself against a potential grown / grow / growth (12) in defaults by its borrowers, who
could / are able to / should (13) struggle to repay their loans and mortgages in an economic
downturn.
Nunn said the bank was expecting a 1-1.2% decline in UK GDP this year and a slight
increase in unemployment in 2024. By the end of 2024, unemployment will have risen / is
rising / would rise (15) by 2%.