Lloyds prepares Australian sale - Telegraph The lender is reported to have received bids for the units that value them together at more than A$1bn (£592m), according to the Wall Street Journal. Several major Australian financial groups, including National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia, are said to be looking at bids for the Capital Finance equipment-leasing business and the BOS International commercial lending unit. The disposal of the Australian asset finance and commercial lending unit is part of Lloyds" plans to sell off businesses that are no longer considered a core part of the bank. A shortlist of bidders is expected to be drawn up this month, with the hope of finalising a sale for a large part of Lloyds" Australian business before the end of the year. A spokesman for Lloyds declined to comment. News of the Lloyds sale came as speculation emerged that Barclays could offload its retail business in the United Arab Emirates. Barclays has confirmed it is reviewing the future of the operation, but has not made any comment on the possibility of a sale. Any disposal would leave untouched the lender's wider commercial and private banking businesses in the UAE. British banks have significantly scaled back their international operations since the financial crisis. Lloyds has already sold off several foreign units, as has Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC. However, RBS is likely to face further pressure to shrink its international operations, particularly if the bank goes ahead with a possible separation into a "good bank" and a "bad bank."