Lloyds profit slumps after PPI hit and bad loan surge

LONDON (Reuters) - Lloyds Banking Group came close to suffering a shock third-quarter pretax loss on Thursday after an increase in bad loans and a fresh 1.8 billion pounds provision for mis-sold loan insurance payouts.Pretax profit of 50 million pounds fell short of a 163 million pound average analyst forecast as Britain's most costly consumer banking scandal continued to haunt the bank.As Britain's biggest mortgage lender, due in part to its Halifax business, and a key source of finance for..