Scot Wids/Cler Med could join HBOS/Lloyds superbank

A merger would mean Clerical Medical, owned by HBOS, and Scottish Widows, owned by Lloyds, would be part of the same group. On the mortgage side, the new retail banking giant would include Halifax owned by HBOS and Scottish Widows Bank and Cheltenham and Gloucester which have Lloyds as their parent. Meanwhile asset managers SWIP (Scottish Widows Investment Partnership) and Insight, owned by HBOS, would be part of the new group which raises questions as to whether they would be merged into one unit. However, there have been market rumours over the last few months that Lloyds may consid...