Organisational changes at Lloyds Banking Group

Commenting on the announced organisational changes at Lloyds Banking Group, Louise Cuming, head of mortgages at moneysupermarket.com says: "There was always going to be a major reorganisation at Lloyds Banking Group following the merger of Lloyds TSB and HBOS and the first phase in that process is now clear. Lloyds' announcement that the Cheltenham & Gloucester (C&G) branch network will close, and Bank of Scotland and Intelligence Finance (IF) products will no longer be available via intermediaries are all highly significant changes . In deed, in a radical shift in focus IF will primarily be used to drive savings products - IF was previously most commonly associated with offset mortgages, which will now only be available via Scottish Widows.

"C&G is the intermediary facing mortgage arm of Lloyds, so the loss of branches should not affect its ability to promote mortgages. The group seems to have been re-focusing on its other brands with many of its recent mortgage products having been launched under the Lloyds and Halifax names. However, the bank will continue to offer mortgages via intermediaries under the C&G brand so in many ways it will be business as usual.

"However, there is no doubt there will be further consolidation in the future, probably at the expense of consumer choice and further down the line I wouldn't be surprised if some of the brands disappear altogether. We may also see further branch closures as Lloyds and Halifax both have branches in close proximity which might be seen as an unnecessary expense.

"In the short term customers need not worry, there will be a lot of IT work going on behind the scenes to enable Lloyds customers to use Halifax branches and vice versa."