HBOS trustees drop plan to block merger

In December, the trustees said they would ask a judge to put the deal on hold until the received a commitment from Lloyds TSB to guarantee payments into the scheme. HBOS pension fund has an estimated shortfall of up to £5bn, and trustees argued the scheme would be weakened by the deal. However, trustees have dropped their plans to block the deal to avoid jeopardising the two banks' capital raising programmes, planned for next week. In a statement issued yesterday, the scheme's trustees say: "Having carefully considered the repercussions of any delay, and in view of helpful statements ...