London - Britain's Lloyds TSB bank Wednesday unveiled a sharp drop in profits in the first six months of the year as a result of credit crunch losses and investment writedowns in its insurance arm.

Pre-tax profits were 70 per cent lower at 599 million pounds (1.18 billion dollars), compared with a profit of 1.99 billion pounds in the first half of 2007.

"The first half of 2008 has been a period of considerable turbulence for the financial services sector," said chairman Sir Victor Blank. (dpa)