And the bank's huge provision looked suspiciously like a "kitchen sink" job with the prospect of clawing back gains in a couple of years' time.
But the European Central Bank's huge provision of cash to euro-zone banks has led to a revival in risk appetite, which has kept capital flowing to Turkey and elsewhere.
One reason must be that, with the real level of non-performing loans in the banking system undeclared for so long, huge provisioning by the banks merely aggravated a state of financial disruption: banks could not afford to make fresh loans, even to good prospects.
The company doesn't say, but it does set aside a huge provision amounting to 41% of gross financed originations for customers who either default or cancel.
"Lloyds has made a huge additional provision and yet it is not showing any interest in dealing with the very valid claims it is receiving," said the company's managing director, Craig Lowther.
The sums involved at EDF are huge: total nuclear provisions amounted to €26.8 billion at the end of 2003, even on a discounted basis.Electricity consumers in France pay a specific charge to fund these costs.
It enabled Confederate authorities to collect huge amounts of provisions that had been under Union control.
Buried in that huge measure were provisions to weaken truck driver fatigue rules, backed by an industry that spends $20 million a year to influence Congress.
And it is the huge inequalities in provision and facilities that most anger Jasper.
