Halifax name to disappear after 173 years as Lloyds Bank scraps the brand

By LEE BOYCE, EDITOR, THIS IS MONEY Lloyds Bank will scrap the Halifax brand after 173 years, it has confirmed today. All Halifax customer accounts will be changed to Lloyds over time, the banking giant says.  Halifax, which started life as a building society in 1852, was rumoured to be on the chopping block earlier in the year. It said at the time: 'We regularly look at the role our brands play in supporting our customers.' Our recent analysis shows there are 178 locations with a Lloyds and Halifax branch in close vicinity – meaning fears those branches will disappear.  Lloyds Banking Group also owns Bank of Scotland and has cut branches heavily in the past decade. Earlier in the year, it announced a further 95 sites would shut between May 2026 and March 2027 – 53 Lloyds branches, 31 Halifax and 11 Bank of Scotland, leaving just 531 open once all close compared to around 1,500 in 2015. End of an era: The Halifax brand will disappear entirely Jas Singh, of Lloyds Banking Group, said: 'As Halifax changes to Lloyds, our Halifax customers will keep everything they know and love today – the same fantastic app design, the same friendly faces in our branches – even the same sort code and account number. 'But as Lloyds customers, they’ll get the best innovation and experiences we offer.' Lloyds said it remained committed to the town of Halifax and the wider Yorkshire and Humber region, where some 3,000 staff are based at its Trinity Road office. It says no job cuts are being announced as part of the shake-up, and Halifax branches will either be rebranded to Lloyds or shifted to a Lloyds branch nearby throughout 2027. Halifax demutualised and launched on the stockmarket in 1997 taking it from building society to bank, creating 7.5million new shareholders in the process.  The former Halifax Building Society members were given a minimum of 200 free shares if they had £100 or more in an account, landing them windfalls of at least £1,469. Halifax merged with Bank of Scotland to form Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) plc in 2001 and grew substantially.  Its shares soared as it became a dominant presence in UK banking, which was proving a lucrative business at the time. It became part of TV advertising lore in the early 2000s thanks to branch member, 'Halifax Howard', who starred in a series of ads including a parodied version of Mousse T and Tom Jones' Sex Bomb to advertise the phrase: 'Extra, extra, I know you want more'. But seven years after it was formed, HBOS was no more.  It was acquired by Lloyds in the financial crisis in a government-brokered rescue deal, after it crashed in the credit crunch with deep exposure to the collapsing UK property market.  HBOS shares hit a peak of £11.50 in February 2007, but when the Lloyds deal was announced on September 17, 2008 HBOS shares had nosedived to below 180p.  Earlier in the year, Lloyds said if it did make any changes, there would be no change to customers' account numbers, nor would there be any impact to Financial Services Compensation Scheme protection – currently £120,000 per individual. Lloyds and Halifax operate in the same market in England/Wales while Bank of Scotland is its only brand in Scotland. TSB could join Halifax in disappearing in the near future. TSB has been a brand name in Britain for 216 years but is rumoured to go after Santander's £2.65billion acquisition of the bank earlier this month. Santander is gearing up to axe the TSB name and run the combined businesses under the name Santander UK. TSB employs 5,000 staff and has approximately 175 branches across Britain. The TSB name dates back to the Trustee Savings Bank starting in a tiny hamlet in Scotland's Dumfriesshire in 1810. Santander previously declined to confirm whether the TSB brand would either be removed or be retained. Are you a Halifax customer upset by the changes? editor@thisismoney.co.uk  Affiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence. Terms and conditions apply on all offers. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. 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