Lloyds has regained its crown as the most popular company with retail investors, who sought to capitalise on rising interest rates and higher dividends being paid by the lender.
The FTSE 100 banking group replaced the bitcoin mining company Argo Blockchain as the most bought publicly listed company by UK investors last year, according to data from the investment platform AJ Bell.
Lloyds repeatedly raised guidance last year for its net interest margin, the difference between what a bank charges for loans and what it pays to depositors, as the Bank of England has rapidly increased interest rates in an attempt to tame inflation.
Lloyds shares have suffered in recent months, however, as concerns about the impact of the economic downturn on bad debts have
