Given how this country is so quick to sell off everything.......

k12479

eskbanker wrote: »

Acquisition has also been used - apart from Sabadell's purchase of TSB, other examples that spring to mind are Santander's acquisitions of Abbey National and Bradford & Bingley, and National Australia Bank's purchase of Clydesdale/Yorkshire.

Certainly true. Although I recall Santander being the worst for customer service following its takeover of Abbey National (proof of the difficulty of integration, perhaps?) and National Australia Bank subsequently exited its acquisition. Apart from TSB/Sabadell they were also in another era, whereas today we have unknowns like RCI and well-knowns like Goldman Sachs starting from scratch rather than taking over established incumbents.

realaledrinker

Nobody has mentioned Brexit. As UK banks stand to lose their 'passporting rights' to trade seamlessly with the EU, why would a foreign bank want to invest in a UK bank? I work for a US bank with a massive presence in the City but they have offloaded jobs to Dublin and Paris, including 50% of the roles in my team.

System

realaledrinker wrote: »

Nobody has mentioned Brexit. As UK banks stand to lose their 'passporting rights' to trade seamlessly with the EU, why would a foreign bank want to invest in a UK bank? I work for a US bank with a massive presence in the City but they have offloaded jobs to Dublin and Paris, including 50% of the roles in my team.

It's far from clear that the UK will actually leave the EEA.
This setup includes EU Single Market benefits such passporting.

Also, in the case of Lloyds - they have just converted their German branch (of BOS) into a German banking licence subsidiary. The Netherlands for RBS.

I'll also leave aside the question of Scotland / NI having their own arrangements - within or outwith a UK framework.

Thrugelmir

deadendwaterfall wrote: »

Howcome no foreign banking companies have tried taking over say Lloyd's Banking Group or Barcklays for example like what Sabadell did with TSB in 2015?

Lloyds was forced to divest itself of accounts by the EU. This was in response to the merger with HBOS in 2008. To do so. Lloyds split some branches away from the main group. By default customers were moved. Sabadell bought the business it wasn't a takeover.

realaledrinker

Thrugelmir wrote: »

. Sabadell bought the business it wasn't a takeover.

Define 'takeover'. TSB is now a 100% owned subsidiary of Sabadell so it fits my definition at any rate.

Jogle

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Lloyds was forced to divest itself of accounts by the EU. This was in response to the merger with HBOS in 2008. To do so. Lloyds split some branches away from the main group. By default customers were moved. Sabadell bought the business it wasn't a takeover.

You've missed out the part where TSB was floated and traded on the LSE. Sabadell the bought all the shares. If buying all the shares isn't a takeover, I'm not sure what is.

It was planned by Lloyds Banking Group to split what became TSB off and for it to be bought straight from LBG (Co-Op and Virgin were the two most likely to purchase), that was the original intention of Project Verde.

That didn't happen (with Co-Op not being able to buy the business because it almost went under) and so Project Verde then moved on to building TSB Bank as a separate bank to be floated on the LSE with LBG originally retaining over 50% of the shares (it had to do so for the first few months as TSB was still on LBG's group VAT registration) and then LBG reducing its shareholding to meet EU requirements.

System

Jogle wrote: »

You've missed out the part where TSB was floated and traded on the LSE. Sabadell the bought all the shares. If buying all the shares isn't a takeover, I'm not sure what is.

It was planned by Lloyds Banking Group to split what became TSB off and for it to be bought straight from LBG (Co-Op and Virgin were the two most likely to purchase), that was the original intention of Project Verde.

That didn't happen (with Co-Op not being able to buy the business because it almost went under) and so Project Verde then moved on to building TSB Bank as a separate bank to be floated on the LSE with LBG originally retaining over 50% of the shares (it had to do so for the first few months as TSB was still on LBG's group VAT registration) and then LBG reducing its shareholding to meet EU requirements.

Slight correction - it didn't create TSB, it just re-branded Lloyds TSB Scotland (already a separate bank) and bolted some South of the border branches / all Cheltenham and Gloucester branches. Hence TSB is registered in Edinburgh.

The Commission basically told LBG to sell either Lloyds TSB Scotland or Bank of Scotland - they had originally planned to merge them.