Britain's fifth-biggest bank, Lloyds TSB, has said it expects full-year profits to be in line with forecasts. Analysts expect the bank to deliver pre-tax profits of �3.34bn ($5.84bn) for the current financial year.
Lloyds TSB's pre-tax profit in 2002 was �2.61bn. The bank added that it's asset quality "remains good".
Eric Daniels, the chief executive of Lloyds, said that "significant progress" had been made in the first nine months of 2003.
But the bank said its share of net new mortgage lending fell in the three months to September as it was wary of lending to people renting out property.
Since taking over in June, Mr Daniels has sold the bank's Brazilian and New Zealand units to concentrate on reviving the core UK business after three years of stagnant underlying earnings.
Shares in the bank have fallen 9.3% this year and are the second-worst performing among Britain's 11 listed banks.
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