Britain's biggest high street bank Lloyds has hailed a "resilient" UK economy that helped lift its finances in the first half of the year, and insisted it could cope even in the event of an abrupt exit from the EU.

Chief executive António Horta-Osório said the economy had held up despite the uncertainty caused by Brexit. The bank was “prepared to do exactly what companies need in order to adapt” depending on the outcome of negotiations, he said.

The Telegraph revealed on Monday that big banks are privately drawing up plans to support companies if a ‘no deal’ exit leads to a cash crunch due to delays in cross-border shipments and payments.

Mr Horta-Osório did not expand on how Lloyds might help businesses, but said he was confident an agreement would be reached: “I’m strongly convinced a deal will be agreed by the EU and UK."

A much-anticipated interest rate rise by the Bank of England tomorrow would also boost the bank, although finance director George Culmer said it would not change profit guidance for this year.

City analysts expect a rise in the base rate to 0.75pc tomorrow to boost profits across UK banks by around £500m a year.

Lloyds posted £3.1bn of pre-tax profits for the first-half of the year, up 23pc. Its shares were up around 2pc in early trading.