British bank HBOS has said its 2005 earnings are likely to beat market expectations due to growth in its insurance and investment units and tight cost control.
HBOS, Britain's fourth biggest bank and the country's biggest mortgage lender, also owns Bank of Scotland Ireland.
HBOS said its credit quality performance and provisioning for bad debts for the year were expected to be in line with market expectations, while cost growth excluding planned investments would be below 3%.
The bank also announced plans to return £750m to investors in 2006 through a share buyback programme.
