Lloyds Bank says investors swap bonds for $98 million

LONDON: Lloyds Banking Group said private retail investors who held bonds issued to rescue the bank during the 2008/9 financial crisis had agreed to swap them for 58.5 million pounds ($98.2 million) in cash.

Lloyds, which is 25 percent owned by the government, also confirmed that institutional investors had agreed to exchange 5 billion pounds worth of the instruments, known as enhanced capital notes, for new bonds.

The bank issued the bonds, which were designed to boost the bank's capital if it ran into trouble, in 2009. But new UK and European capital rules in force this year mean the bonds may no longer count as capital when the bank hits trouble.