Gordon Brown steps up to help HBOS
Despite assurances by all parties involved there has been a nagging doubt that the Lloyds Bank / HBOS deal was starting to unravel. First we saw some serious criticism in the press with some parties trying to claim that the price was daylight robbery. However, when it appeared that Lloyds Bank was sick of the sniping and critics and was reconsidering the terms (and in fact whether the deal would go ahead) the critics seemed to go very quiet.
Today we saw the PM Gordon Brown step into the breach once more to confirm that the deal will go ahead and Lloyds Bank has the full backing of the UK government. It is hard not to feel a little sorry for Lloyds Bank as the group is prepared to put upwards of £12 billion into the deal, saved the day for the UK finance sector and yet still came under a barrage of criticism.
Gordon Brown may well have helped to calm the nerves of the market but those who tried to push Lloyds Bank into a corner may ultimately pay the price, whether this is employment numbers in Scotland or business relationships in the future.
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