FACTBOX: Key facts on LloydsTSB and HBOS

Here are some facts about the two banks:

LLOYDS TSB:

--Lloyds TSB was formed in 1995 from the merger of Lloyds Bank and TSB Group and is the fifth-biggest listed bank in Britain by market value, with a market capitalisation of almost 18 billion pounds.

--It has 70,000 employees and 1,900 branches in Britain, with 16 million customers.

--It is split into three businesses: UK retail banking; insurance and investments; and wholesale and international banking.

--Lloyds is the fourth-biggest mortgage provider with an 8.4 percent share of the market. It is the largest provider of current accounts with over 12.5 million customers.

--Lloyds is led by chairman Victor Blank and its American Chief Executive Eric Daniels. Blank is a lawyer turned dealmaker, who advised on some of the biggest takeovers of the 1980s.

--Lloyds Bank was set up in 1765 by John Taylor and Sampson Lloyd as a private banking business in Birmingham. The group expanded across the UK and overseas and by the early 1990s it had offices in 30 countries. It acquired Cheltenham & Gloucester months before its merger with TSB Group.

--Lloyds became Britain's most profitable bank and a darling of the stock market in the 1990s after takeovers, cost efficiency and massive returns for investors.