MSE News: Lloyds to sell branches to Co-op: what it means for you

MoneySaverLog

The one up the road from me is being sold, as is the branch I use in Birmingham City Centre.

The one nearest my work place, which is my branch, does remain Lloyds TSB however and as I spend most of my day near this branch quite happy with that.

Obviously I'd prefer it if the other 2 branches were not sold, but c'est la vie. Will still be able to use their inside cash machines I hope.

shellsuit

I bank with the Co-op but my nearest is in Liverpool and I'm on the Wirral, which is the other side of the Mersey.

I actually opened a Lloyds account last week (to save me trundling over to Liverpool all the time), as it's the nearest bank to me, so I've just checked the list and thank God it's not my local Lloyds branch, or it would have all been a waste of time.

MoneySaverLog

shellsuit wrote: »

thank God it's not my local Lloyds branch, or it would have all been a waste of time.

You're assuming here that the co-op end up winning the bid.:D

shellsuit

MoneySaverLog wrote: »

You're assuming here that the co-op end up winning the bid.:D

True!

I'm subscribed to this thread now so I'll keep my eyes open to see what happens

pqrdef

The PR announcement linked above was actually triggered by reports (not denied) that the Co-op bid was in trouble, because the Co-op was having trouble raising the financial backing for the mortgage book.

Dazzer2103

I welcome the return of TSB Bank to the high street. Lloyds will split the TSB name from Lloyds next year and will reband all branches Lloyds Bank if staying and TSB if moving. TSB was once a fantastic bank before in got into bed with Lloyds. I will be moving my former TSB account to a branch that will be rebranded TSB. I urge all former TSB customers to do the same.

callum9999

jonmcclelland wrote: »

I wasn't saying that but I'm saying, their ethical policies definitely help their financial strength is all I meant. :cheers:

If anything, I'd say quite the opposite - otherwise all banks would have the policy. I'd imagine you can make quite healthy profits from arms dealers etc.

callum9999

Dazzer2103 wrote: »

I welcome the return of TSB Bank to the high street. Lloyds will split the TSB name from Lloyds next year and will reband all branches Lloyds Bank if staying and TSB if moving. TSB was once a fantastic bank before in got into bed with Lloyds. I will be moving my former TSB account to a branch that will be rebranded TSB. I urge all former TSB customers to do the same.

And why exactly would the Cooperative Bank want to keep the TSB name? A bank having the majority of it's branches under a different name to it doesn't make a lot of sense - surely they'll all be rebranded as Cooperative soon enough.

Not to mention that the branding of the bank has absolutely no affect on it's customer service etc. (which is why I assume you miss TSB, not just because you like the name?) so switching because of it seems monumentally stupid anyway!

JuicyJesus

callum9999 wrote: »

And why exactly would the Cooperative Bank want to keep the TSB name? A bank having the majority of it's branches under a different name to it doesn't make a lot of sense - surely they'll all be rebranded as Cooperative soon enough.

TSB, as a name, has a huge amount of recognition for pretty much anyone over the age of 30, and some very fond memories. It is an established and trusted brand that people recognise. Perhaps more so than the Co-operative Bank. It isn't beyond the realms of possibility that it might actually be the Co-op brand which is ditched (which still has an association with the expensive and previously quite run-down supermarket chain).

There are also advantages in keeping the purchased branches at arms length for a bit. It will take years for the Co-op to divorce them all from Lloyds' systems, and having two sets of branches both under the name "Co-operative Bank" but each with a different array of staff, systems, back office functions, policies and procedures would likely confuse the hell out of the average punter. You'd have the scenario where someone would go into a branch of "the Co-operative Bank" to pay some money into their "Co-operative Bank" account only to be told they're actually in the wrong place and they need to go to a totally different "Co-operative Bank" somewhere else as they are separate! The general result of that would be the customer quite fairly thinking that their bank hadn't quite got their sh*t together, which naturally the Co-op are keen to avoid.*

To put it a bit simpler, if you go into a Barclays or an HSBC you can be guaranteed you're going to be able to deal with your Barclays or HSBC account there. The Co-op would have the situation where you could go into a Co-op and not be able to deal with your Co-op account. Far better to have it clearly delineated which branch is which bank.

Witness the Britannia merger for an example. Right now, we have Britannia branches branded "Britannia - from the Co-operative Bank" with a largely completely different set of products from the Co-op but bearing their name. And to add to the confusion, you can also open some Co-op accounts in Britannia but not others, and service some Co-op accounts in there too but not certain things. And Britannia are absolutely tiddly in comparison to the size of this putative new TSB...

*although it must be said that if we're talking about the Co-op "getting their sh*t together" is not really a strength of theirs

JuicyJesus

Actually, as an addendum, there's a good Q&A here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/jul/19/co-op-lloyds-bank-takeover

Turns out that the Co-op don't plan to migrate TSB onto their own systems... they plan to migrate the Co-op onto TSB's! Which is fair enough, Co-op's systems are absolutely p*ss-poor.