Lloyds Bank

About Lloyds Bank

Founded in Birmingham in 1765 by John Taylor and Sampson Lloyd as a button manufacturing business that evolved into banking. Lloyds merged with Capital and Counties Bank in 1918, becoming one of the Big Four British banks. The black horse logo dates to 1677. Lloyds acquired HBOS Halifax Bank of Scotland in September 2008 during the financial crisis, a deal encouraged by Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The acquisition proved disastrous, with massive losses from HBOS bad loans requiring 20 billion in government bailout. Lloyds repaid the government by 2017. The bank returned to profitability and resumed dividends, but the HBOS acquisition haunted it for years.