Lloyds Banking Group has put aside a pool of assets worth almost £2bn for one of its group pension schemes, allowing it to extend the scheme's recovery plan past the usual 10 years ̶ its second such transaction, following a similar deal put in place in 2009.

The latest deal was revealed in a letter sent last month to members of the HBOS Final Salary Pension Plan ̶ now supported by Lloyds after it acquired HBOS during the financial crisis. It follows the completion of the HBOS fund's latest actuarial valuation, a lengthy process which has produced a solvency figure as of June 30 2011.