LONDON (AP) — Lloyds Banking Group PLC succeeded in halving its losses in 2012 even though it raised the amount of money it has put aside to pay for the mis-selling of insurance products.

The bank said Friday it made a full-year loss of 1.34 billion pounds ($2 billlion), as against the 2.71 billion pounds deficit it recorded in 2011. Despite the loss, the bank is optimistic about its outlook and pointed to an improvement in its underlying performance in 2012.

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