Santander removes Lloyds Banking Group from 'core buy' list

Santander Global Banking & Markets has blamed a possible UK interest rate rise for its waning enthusiasm towards Lloyds Banking Group.The broker is removing Lloyds from its 'core buy' list, on which the UK bank has been for most of 2012, 2013 and 2014, although it is keeping a 'buy' recommendation and a 96p target price on the stock.Santander said the combination of a seemingly near-certain interest rate hike in the UK, as part of regulators' efforts to cool down the housing market, led it to believe Lloyds' shares might stay flat in the next few months.The Spanish bank cited other concerns such as the prospect of a potential tightening of mortgage lending criteria in the Bank of England's Financial Stability Review, which comes out on Thursday June 26th.It also pointed to the "increasing likelihood" that Lloyds would take about £600m of losses on the flotation of its TSB arm, which EU regulators have ordered it to sell as a condition of its government bailout in the financial crisis.It said the losses made a cash dividend in 2014 less likely.However, Santander said it was removing HSBC from its least preferred list."We now have 12% upside and, in our view, it might outperform in the event of a short-term correction," it said.Shares in Lloyds closed down 0.33p or 0.45% at 77.6p in London. HSBC fell 1.8p or 0.3% to 610.3p.PW