Lloyds may have Capital Finance on the block

Lloyds Banking Group has put its subsidiary Capital Finance Australia up for sale, Bloomberg and the Financial Times report.

However, Lynne Machin, head of communications for Lloyds International in Australia, said the reports were "just speculation."

Established by Lloyds in 1995, Capital Finance describes itself as "Australia's largest financier of cars, aircraft and office equipment outside the big four [banks]", although this is a claim some might dispute.

The business has also been in decline, with assets declining by A$3.8 billion over the last two years, to $6.2 billion. Like its owner, Capital Finance has had to manage its way through a troubled loan book, a job that may be largely complete now.

In the year to December 2012, Capital returned to the black with a net profit of A$92 million, including a small write-back.

It said that at the end of last year there were "only a few heavily provisioned loans remaining." It put non-core receivables at $20 million, which is a decline of 99 per cent over a year.
 
Lloyds has had to top up the capital of Capital Finance during its period of losses, it last chipped in $400 million, in 2011.