Lloyds refuses to guarantee HBOS pensions

The latest difficulty in the planned takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) by Lloyds TSB has come in Lloyds’ rejection of a propoal by the Trustees of the HBOS Pension Fund to reassure its stakeholders.

The Trustees have been trying for some time to come to the table with Lloyds on this issue and have been unsuccessful. In the absence of meaningful discussion, they then submitted a proposal to Lloyds on a route to agreement. This was rejected by Lloyds without any alternative of their own being advanced.

The Trustees therefore have no idea what measures LLoyds are planning to take on the matter after the merger. So they are going to the Court of Session in Edinburgh to ask it to put a halt on the ‘merger’ by withholding its approval – which it was due to give on 12th January – until the matter is sartisfactorily resolved.

Writing yesterday (2nd January 2009 )to the members of their Final Salary Pension Scheme (FSPS) they say in conclusion: ‘We do not think that the FSPS can or should rely simply on broad statements of intent unsupported by a legally binding commitment’.