Another High Street Rebrand

[Hermes]

Over the past year or so, Bank of Scotland has changed from sharing products with Halifax to become Lloyds' sister bank in Scotland. Branches are being refitted to a similar style as refurbished Lloyds branches but in blue rather than green:




Bank of Scotland are now using the Cashpoint trademark, and their product range is now aligned with Lloyds rather than the Halifax.

Ps. The renaming of Lloyds TSB to Lloyds Bank was announced in September 2010.

[WillPS]

Where does Halifax fit in to this? I rather hope it goes altogether if I'm honest, never found their service to be very good in any respect.

I too remember the TSB rebranding exercise. It seems it's only banks who do the whole refitting a fascia with temporary signs baring the old brand which can then be quickly changed to the new brand - the only times I've known it to happen are with Lloyds TSB and recently Santander (which looked really dodgy!).

I guess when the TSB fascias go up it shouldn't take much to swap them round to Co-op signage, the base colour looks the same to me.

[wells]

Where does Halifax fit in to this? I rather hope it goes altogether if I'm honest, never found their service to be very good in any respect.

I was wondering this too, and more importantly Howard who I now believe holds an office job.

I too remember the TSB rebranding exercise. It seems it's only banks who do the whole refitting a fascia with temporary signs baring the old brand which can then be quickly changed to the new brand - the only times I've known it to happen are with Lloyds TSB and recently Santander (which looked really dodgy!).

Don't forget Midland Bank to HSBC.

[JAS84]

http://www.lloydstsb.com/media/lloydsts ... anches.pdf
The list of branches transferring to the Co-Op includes two in Hull, both on Jameson Street. One of them is a Cheltenham and Gloucester, and the other is a Lloyds TSB - there's a Lloyds TSB which was originally a TSB Bank in George Street, which surprisingly, they're keeping (so they're not just giving Co-Op the former TSB branches), along with a Halifax which is also on Jameson Street.

[scottishtv]

Over the past year or so, Bank of Scotland has changed from sharing products with Halifax to become Lloyds' sister bank in Scotland. Branches are being refitted to a similar style as refurbished Lloyds branches but in blue rather than green.

Thanks Hermes, that's interesting. I've not had any reason to look at BoS for anything recently, but last time I did they were just offering rather poor rebranded Halifax products.

So there is a degree of strategy going on here in that Lloyds will keep it's presence in Scotland through the Bank of Scotland brand, aligned with offering what Lloyds will in the rest of the UK. That makes sense as it will be a far stronger name here than Lloyds would have been on it's own, plus we'll get the new TSB branches in places of the current Lloyds TSB network.

[Pete]

Oddly, they've also refitted a large number of branches that are about to go over to TSB into the new Lloyds design

Is Halifax to be destroyed altogether then? What is happening to Halifax branches in England atm?

[scottishtv]

Hmm, I've clearly not being paying attention recently but going by what Hermes has revealed and a bit of guesswork it does look like the Halifax brand is going to disappear completely in Scotland, at least.
I never really saw the point of the dual-branded Bank of Scotland Halifax branches, except maybe it was more of an ego thing for the senior management to see a super-huge branch network established. Plus the branding looks a bit pants:



Having thought about it, all recent advertising has just mentioned Bank of Scotland, their Olympic Torch Relay branding and external branch dectorations are all just Bank of Scotland, and I have actually seen one or two of the rebranded branches around. Just didn't notice the Halifax bit was missing:



Much better, I think. Like Pete though, interested to know what (if anything) is happening to Halifax in England. Do they currently share any Bank of Scotland branding?

[DVB Cornwall]

Post Project Verde ... the forced disposal of the 'TSB' brand, Lloyds will be a brand throughout the UK. Halifax will remain in England and Wales, and Bank of Scotland will remain North of the border. There might be a couple of BoS branches exceptionally in London though, mainly for Political reasons.

Halifax and BoS are relatively strong brands in their respective territories.

[Ant]

Hmm, I've clearly not being paying attention recently but going by what Hermes has revealed and a bit of guesswork it does look like the Halifax brand is going to disappear completely in Scotland, at least.
I never really saw the point of the dual-branded Bank of Scotland Halifax branches, except maybe it was more of an ego thing for the senior management to see a super-huge branch network established. Plus the branding looks a bit pants:

And for reference, the same branch post-Halifax.

[scottishtv]

This is getting a bit confusing then.

I don't really know why I care so much, but I'm wondering if customers will still be able to service Halifax accounts in BoS branches? or will they be moved onto BoS products? Won't it be odd for a Scottish customer who has a Halifax current account to have to service it at via a fully BoS-branded branch network.

Also, if they do keep Halifax elsewhere in the UK, it would be a bit weird.

You'll have in Scotland:
TSB (Co-Op), Bank of Scotland (Lloyds product range)

Elsewhere:
TSB (Co-op), Lloyds (Lloyds product range), Halifax (Lloyds Banking Group, but off doing it's own thing?)

[DVB Cornwall]

The current product portfolios are almost identical between BoS and HFX so switching brands for customers of both of them wont be an issue. Introducing some Lloyds products to both might be attractive too.

I'm not iclined to try it now, but up to 3 years ago, on a previous version of online banking, HFX customers could log on to BoS online and service their accounts on the BoS site without difficulty.