Lloyds and Scottish?
A final observation from Birmingham on Friday, where a few HBOS shareholders gathered to vote through the ...
After the Scottish-based attempts to derail the buy-out, it was striking how few Scottish voices were raised at the meeting.
From Jim Spowart, Sir Peter Burt, Sir George Mathewson and Malcolm Fraser's Merger Action Group, they had done their campaigning in private and in public.
They had done what they could, they had failed, and they couldn't see the point of a train fare to the English Midlands.
But there were voices raised - and with strong English accents - about the loss of the Bank of Scotland's traditions.
One of them, with the strong tones of the English Midlands about him, pointed out that Lloyds Banking Group plc, as it is to be known, will have the right to print Bank of Scotland notes, so why shouldn't the new entity be known as "Lloyds and Scottish Bank Group"?
The answer from Lord Stevenson, the HBOS chairman, said it wasn't for him to determine. It was entirely up to the Lloyds TSB bosses.
This was perhaps the most striking answer of his two hours in the spotlight, demonstrating the weakness of HBOS's position in negotiating this "merger" of the two high street giants.
If he couldn't even negotiate on the name, he wasn't able to get much else for his shareholders other than a rescue.
Hullo, I'm Douglas Fraser, and I'm business and economy editor at ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Scotland. Welcome to my blog, where you can read my take on money matters, viewed from a Scottish perspective.
Comment number 1.
At 14th Dec 2008, ruchlaw29 wrote:Not sure whether ironic is the right word but I think it is - only 25 years ago Lloyds had one branch in Scotland. It was in George Street in Edinburgh.
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Comment number 2.
At 14th Dec 2008, lordBeddGelert wrote:Oh dearie me, wake up and smell the coffee..
In a globalised world, Scotland is just a very small country, and in global capitalism tradition is just a brand marketing 'buzz word'.
Lloyds has call centres in Bridgend and in Mumbai, processing centres in Bangalore, IT departments in Manchester and London, a mortgage unit in Scunthorpe, head office departments in Glasgow, Birmingham, Bristol and London.
Attachment to 'national pride' is not a concept understood by the non-human corporation. You've been spending too much time reading the advertising.
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Comment number 3.
At 15th Dec 2008, JGScotland wrote:This is not a "merger", no matter how Mr Salmond and others tries to spin it, it is a take-over. Ridiculous posturing like this has characterised the nat's position from the start.
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Comment number 4.
At 15th Dec 2008, angerland wrote:If it wasn't for the "bail out/merger/take over" (and it's not about accents, it's business, grow up!) then there wouldn't be a Bank of Scotland.
Then who would print your banknotes for you?
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Comment number 5.
At 15th Dec 2008, kaybraes wrote:If HBOS is such a liability, why did Lloyds move heaven and earth to take it over ? Was there some incentive from the treasury other than the massive loan, injection of capital, subsidy ? It's a long time since very much of anything in Scotland was actually Scottish owned; land, rivers ,businesses, hotels, homes, quangoes or even government. Lets face it southern capital owns and runs Scotland and losing a so called Scottish bank means nothing, there is no longer a Scotland except in name .
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Comment number 6.
At 15th Dec 2008, AlwaysKnowsBest wrote:HBOS directly employees thousands of people in and around Edinburgh. I'm talking about the kind of high quality, highly skilled, well paid jobs that only headquarters provide. Tens of thousands of people depend indirectly on these.
If these jobs are moved south then the Scottish economy will completely disintegrate.
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