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Lloyds Buy HBOS as Superbank Looms

Fri, 19 Sep 2008

Lloyds TSB has agreed to buy HBOS in a deal worth more than £12 billion. The merger will create a £28 billion mortgage company in a deal that has escaped competition rules on the grounds that it will help financial stability. Whilst many smaller struggling banks have already been swallowed up by larger banks, this deal represents the biggest merger yet as HBOS ranked as Britain’s sixth biggest bank – just one place behind Lloyds . With HBOS also ranked as Britain’s largest bank for mortgage lending, and Lloyds already fourth, the deal is set to give the new company a 28 per cent share of home loans, and it will become the biggest taker of savings and provider of current accounts .

Alistair Darling confirmed that the government was ‘keeping very closely in touch’ with negotiations, as they looked to secure the deal which will help to stabilise the financial markets. Darling said, ‘They've got to decide what's best for the two banks concerned. My job is to make sure that we do everything possible at this time, especially when you are seeing difficulties all over the world, that we help homeowners, we help savers by maintaining the stability of the banking system’.
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