Is Halifax about to become the new Santander?
Posted on July 16th, 2011
A strong whiff of change is floating through the air at Britains biggest High Street bank.
State-backed Lloyds is plotting to transform the tarnished Halifax brand it picked up in the 2008 financial crisis into a sparkling jewel in its enormous crown.
The message dished by new Lloyds chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio (pictured below) last week is clear: an all-singing, all-dancing Halifax will be unveiled in September.
You can expect a catchy new marketing campaign (anything but who gives you extra? will do, Id have thought…) and a fresh aura to lure customers, Halifax says.
But most exciting of all, Halifax is set to launch a range of scintillating new best buy products that will shoot straight to the top of the rate tables.
Mr Horta-Osorio is strong-minded and hasnt wasted any time. A big-money £8.3million signing from Santander in March, he sees Halifax as one of the keys to getting Lloyds back to profit after a disastrous £3.47bn loss in the first three months of 2011.
And given that were all 41 per cent stakeholders in Lloyds after 2008s multi-billion-pound bailout, that prospect should make for happy taxpayers.
But wait, theres more. The positive noises coming from the Lloyds boardroom cant drown out a small alarm bell ringing off in the distance. Havent we seen all this before? Are Mr Horta-Osorios plans for Halifax about to make it new Santander?
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Tags: Halifax, Halifax Become
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