UK's Lloyds plans to boost lending to corporate clients, FT reports

Feb 4 (Reuters) - Britain's Lloyds Banking LLOY.L plans to increase its lending to big corporate clients and expand its offerings to financial institutions in a strategy update, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Britain's biggest mortgage lender is looking to expand its corporate and institutional banking business, which will mean growing its U.S. office and other international outposts, while not looking to compete with U.S. banks, the FT said.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Lloyds, which had declined to comment to the FT, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside business hours.

Lloyds CEO Charlie Nunn is expected to update investors on the next phase of the company's strategy in July. Last week, it reported a better-than-expected 12% rise in annual profit and upgraded its ‌key performance target.

The FT on Wednesday also said that Lloyds will not make forays into capital-intensive banking, such as equities and fixed-income trading, but instead it will use debt, forex and rates as the main focus.