London  - Lloyds Banking Group Friday reported 2008 losses of 9.9 billion pounds (14 billion dollars) following its growth into a "superbank" through the emergency takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) last September.

Lloyds core division made a pre-tax profit of 807 million pounds in 2008, but HBOS, Britain's biggest mortgage lender, had suffered losses of 9.9 billion pounds, the banking group said .

Even so, Lloyds 2008 profits were by 80 per cent lower than in 2007.

The government-backed takeover at the height of the banking crisis last September had been highly controversial, and the combined group is expected to announce major job losses in its 145,000-strong global workforce.

The government has a 43-per-cent share in the combined group.

The figures come a day after Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) announced a record annual loss of 24.1 billion pounds for 2008 - the biggest in British corporate history.

But, unlike RBS, which placed 325 billion pounds of toxic assets into a new government-backed insurance scheme, Lloyds Banking Group said Friday that no agreement had been reached on such a transfer with the government.

It had been expected that Lloyds Banking Group would syphon off more than 200 billion pounds into the scheme. (dpa)