Lloyds Banking Group on Wednesday said that its net profit soared 52 percent last year, when the UK lender returned fully to the private sector following a state bailout. LBG, which was financially rescued by the UK government following the height of the financial crisis a decade ago, said profit after tax jumped to £3.04 billion ($4.26 billion, 3.45 billion euros) in 2017 from £2.0 billion a year earlier.

"2017 has been a landmark year in which the group has made significant strategic progress and returned to full private ownership," LBG chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said in the earnings release. Underlining the bank's growing recovery in a "resilient" British economy despite Brexit, LBG added that it planned to return up to £1.0 billion to investors in a share buyback.

It also said it would press ahead with its digitalisation strategy. "I am delighted to announce today our strategy for the next three years which will transform the group for success in a digital world," Horta-Osorio said. LBG plans to invest more than £3.0 billion in strategy initiatives, in part to "further digitise the group", the bank said. It added that it would "deploy new technology to drive additional operational efficiencies that will make banking simple and easier for customers whilst reducing operating costs".

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2018