Lloyds Sells Spanish Bank Arm

Lloyds Sells Spanish Bank Arm.

It has been reported on various websites and news channels that Lloyds Banking Group has been forced to sell its Spanish Banking arm to Spanish Banking giant Banco Sabadell.

Banco Sabadell will be familiar to many expat clients with their brands Solbank, Sabadell Atlántico as well as the main Banco Sabadell.

Lloyds Banking Group came about as a merger of the old Lloyds TSB and HBOS (Halifax Bank of Scotland). It was HBOS that owned Halifax Hispania in Spain and we assume this is the banking group that they have been forced to sell.

When the various banking groups collapsed and went mainly in state ownership, it was European Ministers that set rules that banks such as Lloyds were required to sell off their bank branches to stimulate competition.

This sale follows hot on the heels of the recent collapse of Co-op Bank pulling out of the purchase of 600+ Lloyds branches.

Our view
Retail banks should never again be allowed to become ‘super tankers’ competition must be promoted firstly to keep banking prices down but also to reduce the risk of consumer detriment.