Bank takeover will change the face of high streets (From Witney Gazette)

Bank takeover will change the face of high streets

3:22pm Thursday 25th September 2008 in Witney By Maggie Hartford

BANK workers in Oxfordshire are bracing themselves for a round of job cuts following Lloyds TSB's announcement of a £12bn takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland.

The acquisition will change the face of high streets, particularly in market towns like Witney and Abingdon, which will each have three branches of the new banking giant. But there are concerns they could be hit by the promise to 'eliminate branch duplication'.

Bicester, which has both Halifax and Lloyds branches in Sheep Street, could also be affected.

With almost a third of the UK mortgage market, more than £300bn of deposits, and about 3,000 branches, the new megabank will be Britain's biggest.

Alex Bryant, a spokesman for Halifax, said he could not give a breakdown of the number of staff employed in Oxfordshire.

However, the Gazette estimates that about 300 Oxfordshire staff could be affected.

HBOS employs 75,000 people, and has 1,100 branches in the UK. Lloyds TSB has about 70,000 staff, with 1,900 branches.