Taxpayer-backed Lloyds received the accolade from the CBI and the Institute of Chartered Accountants, for the “consistent support it has provided to businesses, including SMEs and larger corporates”.
It beat competitor bank Barclays, RBS Group and HSBC to take the honour, the Financial Times reported.
The award, which Lloyds has won for seven consecutive years, comes less than a week after group’s chief executive announced the bank would set aside £3.2bn to cover claims for mis-sold PPI.
Barclays, RBS and HSBC, have also made provision to cover for mis-selling of PPI.
But Lloyds was the most aggressive seller of the insurance, with a market share of about 40%.
For the award, 1000 finance directors were canvassed for their views on companies that provide services to UK businesses.
Truett Tate, group executive director, wholesale, Lloyds Banking Group, told the FT: “We helped more than 105,000 start ups get off the ground last year and we continue to meet the requirements of businesses, throughout the economic cycle, whether they are SMEs or larger Corporates.”
