The claim against Lloyds Banking Group has been lodged at the High Court with a trial date scheduled for October 2028. The banking group denies allegations that it had enough information to know it should not have processed payments related to the alleged fraud.

Lloyds Bank is defending claims worth up to £1.1bn and another for £280m, brought by insolvency practitioners Kroll over an alleged £1.2bn lending fraud at Arena Television Limited and associated companies, all now in liquidation.

Arena Television abruptly ceased trading in November 2021 and was discovered to have over £285m in asset-based finance liabilities with more than 55 lenders. Over 8,000 assets listed on financing schedules did not exist, according to joint administrators at Kroll.