Operator
Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Lloyds Banking Group 2026 Q3 Interim Management Statement Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this call is scheduled for 1 hour and is being recorded. I’ll now hand over to William Chalmers. Please go ahead.
William Leon Chalmers
Group CFO & Executive Director
Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our Q3 results call. As usual, I’ll run through the group’s financial performance before we then open the line for Q&A. Let me start with an overview on Slide 2.
In the third quarter, the group again delivered sustained strength in financial performance. We demonstrated continued income growth, improving operating leverage and strong and stable credit quality. We are on track to meet our 2026 guidance. The group is continuing its strategic delivery, focusing on supporting U.K. households and businesses while laying firm foundations for Accelerate 2030. The business is performing well, and we are excited to execute on the opportunity ahead.
Let me now talk to our financials on Slide 3. As said, Lloyds Banking Group again demonstrated sustained strength in financial performance during the first 9 months of the year. Statutory profit after tax was GBP 4.8 billion. Within this, we delivered net income of GBP
