Lloyds achieves capital raising landmark

Lloyds Banking Group will conclude its record-breaking £13.5bn rights issue today (Friday), completing a three-part capital raising to side-step the UK government’s costly Asset Protection Scheme (APS). While the 43.4% government-owned bank still faces many challenges, its ability to attract private capital contrasts with rival RBS — which is now facing the prospect of having soon to dilute existing shareholders further.