Lloyds TSB/HBOS - what would you call the new bank?

[Stuart*]

The naming of a merged company is a subject for discussion in the board room and the High Street for visible companies like Lloyds-TSB and HBOS. This is often a complex problem for the merger of large organisations. Many mistakes have been made along the way.

General Accident/Commercial Union could have become "Commercial Accident", but that wasn't thought to be good PR. Fortunetely they were taken over by Norwich Union in the meantime so they went for "GNU". That didn't sound good either so they changed to "Aviva" as a corporate name after a while, keeping "Norwich Union" as the brand.

Royal Bank of Scotland have taken over many banks, but not always renamed them. They have left NatWest largely untouched (apart from the logo) - but they are listed as RBS Group on the FTSE.

Lloyds & TSB was rather straight forward for a bank at the time of their merger; perhaps it was important to keep the TSB name because it was previously government owned.

What would/will happen with HBOS & Lloyds-TSB though?
LBOS
Lloyds Scottish
Scottish Lloyds

I have a feeling that even though they would keep BOS as a subsidiary (it's the oldest bank in Scotland and one with the right to produce bank notes) they would retain Scottish or Scotland somewhere else in the name.

Any other suggestions for the name?

[marksi]

BOSHLLOTS.

[Chris]

Lloyds TSB/HBOS - what would you call the new bank?

Useless wankers.

[Sput]

That's reserved for HR departments.

[Philip Cobbold]

It's possible they could keep the current names as they are. HBOS have kept the two seperate names, so they could end up with three seperate brands, and one overall company with a very obscure name.

[Stuart*]

It's possible they could keep the current names as they are. HBOS have kept the two seperate names, so they could end up with three seperate brands, and one overall company with a very obscure name.

Indeed, but HBOS still amended the signs on all their branches. In England they are "HALIFAX Bank of Scotland"; when I went to Glasgow, I noticed it was reversed. All the official metal plaques have to say the name of the bank though, ie HBOS at present.

I recall that Lloyds TSB took along time to merge, possibly because of the logistical problems. I recall going round a printers doing the new cheque books about 6 months before the official change. They also had to change the plastic signs outside each branch before the official merger day. They had coverings with either Lloyds or TSB over the top and a clear label saying "Temporary Sign". The same when RBS took over "Williams & Glyns" in the 1980s.

There must be a requirement for any bank to actually display it's legal name before they can begin trading each day.

[nwtv2003]

I remember that it took then quite a while to rebrand Midland to HSBC, which was roughly at the same time as the Lloyds TSB merger, at my local HSBC, they had the old Midland sign first, then switched to the red triangle thing and then HSBC about 6 months later.

Considering that many millions of people have accounts and mortages with both companies I can't see them rebranding to one company straight away, I guess they'll probably put 'Part of the HBOS Lloyds Group'

I'm surprised that after almost ten years they haven't decided to wash out the TSB name, you would have thought they'd switch it back to Lloyds Bank after a while

[barcode]

Why not keep both names?

[Stuart*]

Why not keep both names?

Like "623058-Barcode"

[rdobbie]

This branding quandary reminds me of what is now GSK (GlaxoSmithKline), a merger between Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham - two firms that already had double-barrelled names as a result of past mergers.

So effectively four brands became one, and the names of the Wellcome Foundation and Beechams became extinct, for the sake of effective branding. (Although GSK have kept Beechams going as a sub-brand for their cold and flu products).

[Nini]

General Accident/Commercial Union could have become "Commercial Accident", but that wasn't thought to be good PR. Fortunetely they were taken over by Norwich Union in the meantime so they went for "GNU".

That's CGNU, you clod.