LONDON — The Lloyds Banking Group said on Friday that it returned to a profit in 2014 as it prepared to pay its first dividend since the lender was bailed out by British government during the financial crisis.
The return to paying a dividend, while mostly symbolic, is an important milestone for the bank, which received 17 billion pounds, or about $26 billion, from the British government in 2008.
Lloyds said that it would pay a dividend of 0.75 pence a share, returning about £535 million to investors.
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The bank’s core Tier 1 capital ratio, a measure of its ability to weather financial disturbances, rose to 12.8 percent at the end of December from 10.3 percent at the end of 2013.
European banks are required to have a minimum of 4 percent common equity Tier 1 capital under European rules, but larger banks are required to maintain a higher minimum capital level, which is set by their local regulators.
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