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"That would be huge and would be on the scale of PPI, with compensation payments running into the tens of billions of pounds," she said.

However, group chief executive Charlie Nunn told the BBC the issues around motor finance were not comparable to the PPI mis-selling scandal, which cost the bank billions.

The total paid out by Lloyds over the PPI mis-selling saga stood at £21.9bn in 2019.

The study tracks the impact of an intervention that imposed limits on PPI prescription size and refills for patients without a documented reason to be on the medication, discontinued old prescriptions, and provided education to patients and clinicians on alternatives.

In all, the intervention led to a massive reduction in PPI use: a nearly 30% reduction in prescriptions of PPIs compared to other VA regions.