Lloyds Banking Group is preparing to retire the Halifax brand after 173 years, marking the end of one of Britain’s best-known high street banking names.
The banking group, which owns Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, is expected to confirm plans this summer to phase out Halifax as a standalone brand.
Industry sources said the process is due to begin on July 1, when new account applications through Halifax’s digital platforms are expected to stop.
By October, the brand is set to stop accepting new customers entirely, according to The Sun.
Existing Halifax customers would then be gradually transferred to Lloyds Bank under a phased migration programme.
The move represents a major strategic shift for the group, which has historically maintained separate identities for its banking brands.
Current account holders are not expected to face major administrative disruption during the transition, with account numbers set to remain unchanged.
Customers who hold accounts with both Halifax and Lloyds will continue to benefit from separate Financial Services Compensation Scheme protection limits due to the group’s corporate structure.
Bank of Scotland will not be affected by the changes.
The Scottish banking brand remains outside the scope of the restructuring as it is the group’s primary banking operation north of the border.
Halifax and Lloyds, however, have traditionally competed within the same markets across England and Wales.
The decision appears to reverse comments made in 2011 by former chief executive António Horta-Osório, who said: “We will keep the different brands because the customers are very different in terms of attitude.”
The announcement follows continued branch closures across the banking sector.
In February, Lloyds Banking Group confirmed plans to close 95 branches across its three banking brands, including 31 Halifax branches.
The closures will leave the group operating 610 branches nationwide.
The BTU union, which represents 17,000 Lloyds employees, described the closures as the “final nail in the coffin of branch banking.”
Lloyds Banking Group declined to comment directly on reports surrounding the Halifax brand retirement.
A spokesman said: “We regularly look at the role our brands play in supporting our customers.”
They added that customers are already able to use services at Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland branches, with no immediate changes planned for account holders.
Halifax was founded in 1852 when local businessmen established the Halifax Permanent Benefit Building Society in West Yorkshire.
The institution was created during the Industrial Revolution to help workers access affordable housing through savings and mortgage lending.
Under the leadership of Enoch Hill, the organisation had become the world’s largest building society by 1928 with assets worth £47million.
Halifax demutualised in 1997, creating 7.5 million shareholders in what remains the largest flotation in British stock market history.
The lender later merged with Bank of Scotland in 2001 to create HBOS before being acquired by Lloyds during the 2009 financial crisis.
The brand also became widely recognised through advertisements featuring Howard Brown, the Birmingham-based customer services employee whose television appearances made him a household name.