15 March 2019
HBOS plc Annual Report and Accounts for the year endED 31 December 2018
In accordance with Listing Rule 9.6.1, HBOS plc has submitted today the above document to the National Storage Mechanism.
The document will shortly be available for inspection at http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/NSM
In fulfilment of its obligations under section 6.3.5(1) of the Disclosure and Transparency Rules, HBOS plc hereby releases the unedited full text of its 2018 Annual Report and Accounts.
A copy of the document is also available through the 'Financial Performance' page within the 'Investors & Performance' section of the Lloyds Banking Group plc website at www.lloydsbankinggroup.com
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For further information:
Investor Relations
Douglas Radcliffe +44 (0)20 7356 1571
Group Investor Relations Director
Corporate Affairs
Matt Smith +44 (0)20 7356 3522
Head of Corporate Media
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report contains certain forward looking statements with respect to the business, strategy, plans and/or results of the HBOS Group and its current goals and expectations relating to its future financial condition and performance. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the HBOS Group's or its directors' and/or management's beliefs and expectations, are forward looking statements. Words such as 'believes,' 'anticipates', 'estimates', 'expects', 'intends', 'aims', 'potential', 'will', 'would', 'could', 'considered,' 'likely', 'estimate' and variations of these words and similar future or conditional expressions are intended to identify forward looking statements but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. By their nature, forward looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend upon circumstances that will or may occur in the future.
Examples of such forward looking statements include, but are not limited to: projections or expectations of the HBOS Group's future financial position including profit attributable to shareholders, provisions, economic profit, dividends, capital structure, portfolios, net interest margin, capital ratios, liquidity, risk-weighted assets (RWAs), expenditures or any other financial items or ratios; litigation, regulatory and governmental investigations; the HBOS Group's future financial performance; the level and extent of future impairments and write-downs; statements of plans, objectives or goals of HBOS Group or its management including in respect of statements about the future business and economic environments in the UK and elsewhere including, but not limited to, future trends in interest rates, foreign exchange rates, credit and equity market levels and demographic developments; statements about competition, regulation, disposals and consolidation or technological developments in the financial services industry; and statements of assumptions underlying such statements.
Factors that could cause actual business, strategy, plans and/or results (including but not limited to the payment of dividends) to differ materially from forward looking statements made by the HBOS Group or on its behalf include, but are not limited to: general economic and business conditions in the UK and internationally; market related trends and developments; fluctuations in interest rates, inflation. exchange rates, stock markets and currencies; the ability to access sufficient sources of capital, liquidity and funding when required; changes to the HBOS Group's or Lloyds Banking Group plc's or Lloyds Bank plc's credit ratings; the ability to derive cost savings and other benefits including, but without limitation as a result of any acquisitions, disposals and other strategic transactions; changing customer behaviour including consumer spending, saving and borrowing habits; changes to borrower or counterparty credit quality; instability in the global financial markets, including Eurozone instability, instability as a result of the exit by the UK from the European Union (EU) and the potential for other countries to exit the EU or the Eurozone and the impact of any sovereign credit rating downgrade or other sovereign financial issues; technological changes and risks to the security of IT and operational infrastructure, systems, data and information resulting from increased threat of cyber and other attacks; natural pandemic and other disasters, adverse weather and similar contingencies outside the HBOS Group's or Lloyds Banking Group plc's or Lloyds Bank plc's control; inadequate or failed internal or external processes or systems; acts of war, other acts of hostility, terrorist acts and responses to those acts, geopolitical, pandemic or other such events; changes in laws, regulations, practices and accounting standards or taxation, including as a result of the exit by the UK from the EU, or a further possible referendum on Scottish independence; changes to regulatory capital or liquidity requirements and similar contingencies outside the HBOS Group's or Lloyds Banking Group plc's or Lloyds Bank plc's control; the policies, decisions and actions of governmental or regulatory authorities or courts in the UK , the EU, the US or elsewhere including the implementation and interpretation of key legislation and regulation together with any resulting impact on the future structure of the Group; the ability to attract and retain senior management and other employees and meet its diversity objectives; actions or omissions by the HBOS Group's directors, management or employees including industrial action; changes to the HBOS Group's post-retirement defined benefit scheme obligations; the extent of any future impairment charges or write-downs caused by, but not limited to, depressed asset valuations, market disruptions and illiquid markets; the value and effectiveness of any credit protection purchased by the HBOS Group; the inability to hedge certain risks economically; the adequacy of loss reserves; the actions of competitors, including non-bank financial services, lending companies and digital innovators and disruptive technologies; and exposure to regulatory or competition scrutiny, legal, regulatory or competition proceedings, investigations or complaints. Please refer to the latest Annual Report on Form 20-F filed by Lloyds Banking Group plc with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a discussion of certain factors and risks together with examples of forward looking statements.
Lloyds Banking Group may also make or disclose written and/or oral forward looking statements in reports filed with or furnished to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Lloyds Banking Group annual reviews, halfyear announcements, proxy statements, offering circulars, prospectuses, press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by the directors, officers or employees of Lloyds Banking Group to third parties, including financial analysts.
Except as required by any applicable law or regulation, the forward looking statements contained in this Annual Report are made as of the date hereof, and the HBOS Group expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward looking statements contained in this Annual Report to reflect any change in the HBOS Group's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based. The information, statements and opinions contained in this