 For Lloyds Banking Group PLC LSE:LLOY, which is due to post a quarterly update on Thursday, an economic downturn is worse for business than for peers like Barclays and HSBC that have less of a focus on traditional banking in the UK. Investors and analysts will be keeping an eye on impairment charges as the bank prepares for more people defaulting on their loan repayments read the Lloyds preview here, while the lender became the first in the industry to stop direct finance for new oil and gas development. 