Lloyds TSB Group plc is a group of financial services companies, based in the United Kingdom, with the registered office in Edinburgh, Scotland. The group contains companies that provide banking services for individuals and businesses, and also mortgage, investment and life assurance, operating both in the UK and elsewhere.

The Lloyds TSB Group is the fifth largest bank headquartered in the United Kingdom by assets after HSBC Holdings, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays Bank, and HBOS. However it has the largest share of the British domestic market. Lloyds TSB was formed by the merger of Lloyds Bank and the Trustee Savings Bank in 1995. The high street banking arms are Lloyds TSB Bank plc, headquartered at Gresham Street in the City of London and Lloyds TSB Scotland plc, headquartered at George Street in Edinburgh.

Lloyds Bank was one of the oldest banks in the UK, formed in 1765 in Birmingham. Through a series of mergers Lloyds emerged to become one of the Big Four banks in the UK. It also acquired overseas businesses, particularly in Brazil and New Zealand. It also owned a life assurance company, Lloyds Abbey Life. In 1994 it acquired the Cheltenham and Gloucester Building Society, giving it a large stake in the UK mortgage lending market.

The Trustee Savings Bank (TSB) was formed by Henry Duncan in Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire, Scotland in 1810. The aim of the bank was to help poor parishioners save money for times of hardship. The success of the scheme led to similar banks forming throughout the country. The Trustee Savings Bank Association was formed for the smaller banks to join. Eventually re-organisation led to the formation of just four TSB banks: TSB England and Wales; TSB Scotland; TSB Northern Ireland; and TSB Channel Islands. The only bank not to join, Airdrie Savings Bank still exists today.

In 1985, the Trustee Savings Bank Act 1985 was passed which merged the Scottish and Channel Islands operations into TSB England and Wales under the name TSB Bank plc. The new bank was floated on the London Stock Exchange and TSB Northern Ireland was sold to Allied Irish Banks.

In 1995, the two banks, TSB and Lloyds merged to form Lloyds TSB Bank Plc. However, as TSB was formed under an Act of Parliament, another act was required before a legal merger was allowed. The Lloyds TSB Act 1999 was passed to allow this.

At the time of creation, Lloyds TSB was the largest bank in the UK and Europe. However it has lagged behind the growth of fellow UK banks, most notably the Royal Bank of Scotland. An acquisition of Scottish Widows Life Assurance Society was judged to be poor value for money. Poor performance led the bank to dispose of many overseas assets, namely the Brazilian and New Zealand operations.

External links

• Group overview (http://www.investorrelations.lloydstsb.com/company_overview.asp)
• Lloyds TSB web site (http://www.lloydstsb.com/)
• Savings Banks Museum in Ruthwell (http://www.savingsbanksmuseum.co.uk/index.html)