Lloyds to sell 100k business accounts to Co-op
Lloyds Banking Group are to sell the TSB and Cheltenham and Gloucester brands to the Co-operative Bank along with 632 branches and around 4.8 million customers. As a result of the state bail out in 2009 the European regulators ruled that Lloyds had to sell part of their business, to increase competition between UK banks.
Lloyds have published a complete list of the branches being sold which consist of all C&G branches, all Lloyds TSB Scotland branches and some Lloyds TSB branches in England and Wales. This includes a 4.7 million personal banking accounts and (something that hasn’t featured highly in the national press) around 100,000 business banking customers.
Lloyds say that they’ll make sure every customer affected is kept fully informed about what it means for them. You don’t need to do anything at the moment and can continue to bank as usual. For personal customers, unless you have a particular objection to banking with the Co-op, the impact shouldn’t be too significant.
However if you’re a business banking customer with finance agreements you’ll want to assess how the change might impact your business. Banking charges, business credit cards, Cardnet (card payment services), Ceridian (SME Managed Payroll Service), overdraft agreements, and the terms for any outstanding loans or other finance agreements could all be affected. Plus you might end up banking with the Co-op but still have some services with Lloyds.
The deal is expected to complete by November 2013 so there’s no need to worry immediately, but if you’re one of the affected businesses who are going to be transferred during the sale you need to start verifying that your banking arrangements won’t negatively impact your business.
Chris says
11:18 pm on 19/07/2012
Apparently there will be a mechanism where by customers to be transfered will be able to stay with Lloyds if they really want to. It appears as if it will be possible to transfer to branches that are not being sold.
From what I heard this sounds like it will be in place for personal customers. Did not mention Business Customers so it might be an idea to ask at your local branch if you are one of those business accounts to be transfered. There could be some advantages as well. The Co-operative Bank has an “Ethical” Policy on most things(unlike any of the other Banks).
So it could be that in the future the Co-op Bank will be a safer bet as a Bank than such as Lloyds and Barclays etc. In regard to facilities remember that the Co-op Bank is going from a very small Bank to a significant player in one step. So it is likely that any areas where they are currently weak that they will have to develop services and accounts etc to provide for as a matter of urgency. So it is likely that the Co-op Bank after the takeover of all these Lloyds Branches will be a very differant Bank than it is at present.
It might be a bit early to try to stay with Lloyds now until you get some idea as to how the New Co-op Bank will be post Branch Takeover. Although it might be an idea to keep your options open.
Chris Dawson says
11:26 pm on July 19th, 2012
I don’t think I’d care too much about how the bank my account had been sold to an “ethical” bank if they then cancelled my overdraft facility or withdrew other services due to a difference in banking policies.
(And mostly Co-op bank is classed as ethical by virtue of being part of the Co-op group, not because the bank itself is particularly ethical)
Chris says
11:39 pm on 19/07/2012
A few years ago the Co-op Bank had a Membership Drive. They attracted a reasonable number of New Customers during the campaign.
At the end of the campaign they announced the results of the campaign. They had recorded where each of the New Customers had come from and the largest number had come from Alliance & Leicester Bank(never a particularly large Bank).
Alliance & Leicester were one of the failed or failing Banks that were bought by Santander Bank and incorporated into itself. A & E had a reputation for being an appallingly bad Bank to Bank with. It would be interesting to know if any of the New Customers that Co-op Bank attracted at that time(especially those from A & E) are still with it and could they give Tamebay a report on their findings.
So could I ask(and I hope that I am not going to upset Tamebay) any Co-op Bank Customers(especially the ex A & E Customers) to give us their feelings on what the Co-op Bank is like to Bank with now(realising that it is likely to have to change with the purchase of all the 600+ Lloyds Branches and all the Customer Accounts)
JD says
12:40 am on 20/07/2012
What is all this?
Other banks are offering to pay me money if I transfer my account to them, but this deal says I am being transferred without/against my wish for free?
Where’s my lolly?
Someone needs to get real, if I am with LTSB now and I am happy then that is were I will stay. (Banks are mostly not a branch on the high street any more!)
Chris Dawson says
12:47 am on July 20th, 2012
I honestly thought I had a local branch… until one day I used telephone banking for the first time and they told me I had the wrong answer! Apparently my physical local branch (the one I opened my account in and the only one I ever use) it not my actual local branch.
Go figure!
I don’t bank with Lloyds but I would love to know where my C&G mortgage is going to end up.
Chris Dawson says
12:48 am on 20/07/2012
I think the booby prize has to go to the Co-op banking customer who got pissed off with them last week and transferred to Lloyds…
…imagine waking up to realise they’d just sold you back
Jez says
8:39 am on 20/07/2012
I moved my Business Account from Lloyds TSB to the Co-op around 3yrs ago, never had a problem with them. Now Lloyds TSB on the other hand….
Chris says
8:49 am on 20/07/2012
Remember that the reason why Lloyds is selling the 600+ branches is because the EU has instructed it to. Apparently its because the British Government(remember the British Government has no money of its own it uses money that it has taxed from us-You and Me)bailed it out. The British Government now owns a very large chunk of Lloyds Bank. Because of this the EU demanded the sale.
It has often been said that we find it easier to get divorced than change our Banks(I am divorced but I am still with the same Bank I have been with for many years-even though they are not particularly good-in fact often very poor).
It would be interesting to learn why the Co-op customer got so annoyed that he changed Banks(especially to go to Lloyds). After all the reason why the Government had to bail them out was that Lloyds Bank was failing – Likely to go bust if the Government did not bail them out.
Dave Dawson says
10:18 am on 21/07/2012
I opened my account in staines years ago and saw from the list of branches being sold that my account wasn’t affected, to later discover that my account is at Hounslow which is on the list, however I have no intention of banking at coop, how many others will feel the same I wonder…
Gerry007 says
3:38 pm on 21/07/2012
.
Way back in my 20-30′s Co-op Bank was a force to be reckoned with locally.
Within a 5 mile circle, I can remember several Branches [many attached to the then Co-op department stores], but as the 1990′s approached they seem to have retracted and closed many locations in the SE.
This is the period when Midland Banks was independent of HSBC, C&G + TSB were fairly small Mutuals, Natwest was independent, Halifax was a Mutual, RBS & BofS were hardly heard of south of the Border, oh, & A&E [another small mutual] had just taken over The Post office’s Giro bank, etc, etc.
The thing to note is that Lloyds are not getting rid of any of the branches they bought when they took control of Halifax/BofS [which was the main reason Lloyds subsequently got themselves into trouble]. just C&G + TSB, which was their main expansion stream in the past…
st georges dragon says
3:49 pm on 21/07/2012
way back, banks were for the rich , ordinary folk got paid cash ,and spent cash ,a bank account was not normal
Chris says
6:22 pm on July 21st, 2012
Way back the “Working Class” was paid cash in a Wages Envelope each week. But how many people are paid weekly now? It became the “norm” to pay even manual workers monthly by Bank Transfer. As soon as that happened even the Manual Workers found that they had to have a Bank Account.
Then there are Credit and Debit Cards and all the rest. Very difficult to get any of these without a Bank Account. Now of course just about every supplier of services such as electricity, gas, water wants you to pay them by standing order and again that is just about impossible without a Bank Account. If you don’t pay by standing order they often charge you extra for other methods of payment.
So it is now the “norm” to have a Bank Account. The trouble is that most of the Banks are total rubbish. Thats why several have had to be bailed out by the Government(using mine and yours money-without having asked us first)
What the Country needs desperately is a Bank that we can all trust. Perhaps the new enlarged Co-op Bank might fill that need. Currently I do not Bank with Lloyds or Co-op but I will be looking carefully to see if the new set-up is what I am looking for(part of which will be if there is a Branch Locally)
I certainly will not be saying categorically “I will not Bank with the Co-op Bank” especially if in the future the Co-op Bank because of its ethical policies stays well clear of “Casino Banking” which is what got the other Banks into trouble. Perhaps Co-op Bank could be the Strongest and most financially sound in a few years time?
Chris says
4:30 pm on 22/07/2012
Talking about totally diabolically bad Banks. In the Mail on Sunday there is an article about Santander Bank. It has reneged on its promise to offer free Banking for life to its business customers. Apparently they are to be moved into alternate accounts charging between £7.50 and £40 per month.
I find myself wondering why? Then I watched the TV coverage of the Formula 1 Grand Prix from Germany. Everywhere the camera pointed the name “Santander” was plastered. There seemed to be hardly a square inch without “Santander” in it somewhere. F1 is very very expensive to advertise in. So perhaps Santander Bank are “dumping” on its Business Customers from a Great Height to pay for its obviously massive advertising budget.
So perhaps what is needed is for Santander Bank Business Customers to look very carefully at other Banks perhaps including the new enlarged Co-op Bank and move their Accounts. After all 100k Business Customers dumping Santander Bank might show the Banks Management how appalling its treatment of its Business Customers is.