Lloyds Banking Group 2018 profit missed analyst expectations but the UK lender set out plans for a major share buyback and brought forward its cost-cutting targets.

The UK's largest domestic bank said Wednesday that it made a pre-tax profit of £5.96bn ($7.73bn), up from £5.28 billion in 2017. Analysts had forecast Lloyds to make a pre-tax profit of £6.4bn.