Lloyds TSB has today (18 September) confirmed that there could be legal job losses as a result of its £12.2bn takeover of stricken lender HBOS.
The bank, which unveiled details of the union earlier today (18 September), said it is expecting to make cost savings of around £1bn a year through the merger by 2011.
Head office operations including legal, HR, risk and finance departments are among those facing consolidation at the two banks, which are acknowledged to have substantial cross-over between their operations.
Lloyds TSB is understood to have a team of around 25 lawyers in its
HBOS, meanwhile, has an in-house legal team of some 50 lawyers and an estimated annual legal spend of £30m.
Lloyds announced the takeover yesterday (17 September) after HBOS’s share price collapsed in the wake of the shock bankruptcy filing of US investment bank Lehman Brothers, which triggered a renewed wave of instability in international banking.
The HBOS rescue deal is also notable as the UK Government has pledged to introduce emergency legislation to allow the union to override competition hurdles.
Allen & Overy (A&O) and Linklaters have landed the top roles on the takeover. A&O is fielding a team under relationship partner Alistair Asher, with corporate partner David Broadley and anti-trust partner Mark Friend assisting.
Linklaters is acting for Lloyds, with
The news emerged as
Legal Week reported yesterday that the 50-strong in-house legal team were set to receive their salary – contradicting initial predictions that Lehman staff would not be paid following the
This has raised expectations that Barclays could take on a number of Lehman lawyers following the deal it sealed on Wednesday to buy Lehman’s
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