Lloyds returns to profit of £2.21bn

It reported a pre-tax profit of £2.21bn, compared with a £6.3bn loss in 2009. A recovery for High Street banking offset rising bad debts in the Republic of Ireland, though its overall cost of bad loans fell from £24bn to £13bn, the BBC reports. Its asset management arm SWIP also reported a strong year, with profits before tax of £88m. Meanwhile, funds under management increased to £146.2bn from £141.7bn at the end of 2009. Dean Buckley, managing director of SWIP, says: "SWIP's external gross new business for the year was £3.1bn. A key contributor to this was £1bn new business incom...