Halifax to vanish?

The_Groat_Counter

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82009116#Comment_82009116

For the 143 years between its founding in 1853 and its demutualisatiion in 1996.

grandadgolfer

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82007297#Comment_82007297

Guilty

Halifax was one of many bagged during a very productive period for me, as I had accounts with most Building Societies….happy days

M25

The Halifax was raped by its members and people on the board all for a few quid (I think members got £500 blood money and I'm sure those who controlled the sell off got a bit more no doubt).

To me it's a filthy banking name so will not be missed. Get rid of the Bank of Scotland brand too. It's valueless. It's not Scottish and it's not really a bank. It's a brand of LBG.

Demutualisation was a total disaster for the country. It also applied to the AA and RAC etc which also had their !!!!!! sold.

There was a terrible government-sanctioned greed in the 1980s which we're all now literally paying for.

wmb194

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82009226#Comment_82009226

You can argue about the pros and cons but ultimately if the owners want to sell their stakes in their companies it's up to them.

Bank of Scotland isn't a just a brand of LBG, it's a subsidiary with its own banking licence. Halifax is a brand of BoS.

"Bank of Scotland plc. Registered in Scotland No. SC327000."

The_Groat_Counter

I'm sympathetic with the anti-demutualisation view expressed above.

For that reason I'm very glad the Nationwide Building Society is flourishing, and indeed has expanded by taking over Clydesdale Bank/Virgin Money. Likewise it's great that the Co-op Bank, after some shabby mismanagement and then resulting dubious hedge fund ownership, has returned to its mutual roots in Coventry Building Society ownership.

I think the world would have been better with the AA and RAC operating under the mutual model too (e.g. see the continuing success of ADAC in Germany.)

Anyway, the disappearance of the Halifax name will merely be following the pattern already set by Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester, Cheltenham & Gloucester, Bradford & Bingley, the Woolwich et al. The thing the name represented is definitely no more.

GTR_King

do think Halifax moving everything to Lloyds will be better or make things worse?

it has happens before so probably easy to move everything over

The_Groat_Counter

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82009734#Comment_82009734

It'll make scant difference apart from the name.

(OK it might make a difference for those people who for example held two equivalent products with each brand, e.g. both a Hailfax Regular Saver and a Lloyds Regular Saver.)

Section62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82009707#Comment_82009707

I'm sympathetic with the anti-demutualisation view expressed above.

We can play 'what-if' forever and never have everyone agree, but we still have 40-something building societies, and how many do we actually need?

There's an argument that if some of the big fish hadn't been removed from the pond then we wouldn't have as many of the smaller fish (and minnows) we are fortunate to have.

Sentimentality for a particular name shouldn't outweigh the health of the sector as a whole. And Nationwide wouldn't exist as it is without the loss of some well-loved smaller societies.

The_Groat_Counter

@Section62 … all fair points!

grandadgolfer

”Anyway, the disappearance of the Halifax name will merely be following the pattern already set by Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester, Cheltenham & Gloucester, Bradford & Bingley, the Woolwich et al. The thing the name represented is definitely no more”

Had all of those plus AA….👍