s of london lloyd s list lloyds bank international lloyd s register or lloyd banks . lloyds tsb redirects here . for the business that was demerged in 2013 see tsb bank united kingdom . for other uses see lloyds bank disambiguation . lloyds bank plc type public limited company traded as lloyds tsb 1999 2013 industry financial services founded 1765 ; 251 years ago 1765 taylors and lloyds headquarters 25 gresham street london united kingdom key people lord norman blackwell chairman antonio horta osorio ceo 1 products banking and insurance number of employees 45 856 parent lloyds banking group subsidiaries lloyds bank international limited lloyds bank gibraltar limited website www.lloydsbank.com lloyds bank plc is a british retail and commercial bank with branches across england and wales . it has traditionally been considered one of the big four clearing banks . 2 originally founded in birmingham in 1765 the bank expanded during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and took over a number of smaller banking companies . in 1995 it merged with the trustee savings bank and traded as lloyds tsb bank plc between 1999 and 2013 . the bank is the principal subsidiary of lloyds banking group which was formed in january 2009 by the acquisition of hbos by the then lloyds tsb group . 3 that year following the uk bank rescue package the british government took a 43.4 % stake in lloyds banking group . as a condition imposed by the european commission regarding state aid 4 the group later announced that it would create a new standalone retail banking business made up of a number of lloyds tsb branches and those of cheltenham & gloucester . the new business began operations on 9 september 2013 under the tsb brand . lloyds tsb was subsequently renamed lloyds bank on 23 september 2013 . 5 lloyds bank is the largest retail bank in britain 6 and has an extensive network of branches and atm in england and wales as well as an arrangement for its customers to be serviced by bank of scotland branches in scotland halifax branches in northern ireland and vice versa and offers 24 hour telephone and online banking services . as of 2012 update it has 16 million personal customers and small business accounts . 7 lloyds bank came 10th out of 12 in the british bank awards 2016 8 it has its operational headquarters in london with other offices in wales and scotland . it also operates a number of office complex brand headquarters and data centres in yorkshire including leeds sheffield and halifax . contents 1 history 1.1 origins 1.2 expansion 1.3 lloyds tsb 1.4 divestment and return to lloyds bank 2 services 3 overseas operations 4 controversies 4.1 payment protection insurance 4.2 links to arms trade 4.3 tax evasion 4.4 retail conduct failings 4.5 divestment of government owned shares 4.6 credit cards 4.7 libor rate manipulations 5 see also 6 references 6.1 bibliography 7 external links history edit origins edit sampson lloyd ii 1699 1779 birmingham iron merchant and founder of lloyds bank in 1765 the origins of lloyds bank date from 1765 when button maker john taylor and quaker iron producer and dealer sampson lloyd ii set up a private banking business in dale end birmingham . the first branch office opened in oldbury some six miles 10 km west of birmingham in 1864 . 9 the symbol adopted by taylors and lloyds was the beehive representing industry and hard work . the black horse device dates from 1677 when humphrey stokes adopted it as sign for his shop . stokes was a goldsmith and keeper of the running cashes an early term for banker and the business became part of barnett hoares & co. when the bank took over that bank in 1884 it retained the black horse as its symbol . 10 the association with the taylor family ended in 1852 and in 1865 lloyds & co. converted into a joint stock company known as lloyds banking company ltd. the first report of the company in 1865 stated lloyds banking company limited authorized capital 2 000 000 . founded on the private banks of messrs. lloyds & co. and messrs. moilliet and sons with which have subsequently been amalgamated the banks of messrs. p. h. williams wednesbury and messrs.stevenson salt & co. stafford and lichfield . they had an office at 20 lombard st. london your directors have the satisfaction to report that they have concluded an agreement with the well known and old established firm of messrs. stevenson salt & company for the amalgamation with this company of their banking business at stafford lichfield rugeley and eccleshall and that this agreement has had the unanimous approval of the extraordinary general meeting held on 31st january last . it will be again submitted to you for final confirmation after the close of the ordinary general meeting . timothy kenrick chairman . birmingham 9th february 1866 two sons of the original partners followed in their footsteps by joining the established merchant bank barnett hoares & co. which later became barnetts hoares hanbury and lloyd based in lombard street london . eventually this became absorbed into the original lloyds banking company which became lloyds barnetts and bosanquets bank ltd. in 1884 . 11 and finally lloyds bank limited in 1889 . expansion edit lloyds bank at the sign of the black horse prior to tsb merger . the file above s purpose is being discussed and or is being considered for deletion . see files for discussion to help reach a consensus on what to do . through a series of mergers including cunliffe brooks in 1900 the wilts . and dorset bank in 1914 and by far the largest the capital and counties bank in 1918 lloyds emerged to become one of the big four clearing banks in the united kingdom . by 1923 lloyds bank had made some 50 takeovers one of which was the last private firm to issue its own banknotes fox fowler and company of wellington somerset . today the bank of england has a monopoly of banknote issue in england and wales . 12 in 2011 the company founded sgh martineau llp . in 1968 a failed attempt at merger with barclays and martins bank was deemed to be against the public interest by the monopolies and mergers commission . barclays finally acquired martins the following year . 13 in 1972 lloyds bank was a founding member of the joint credit card company with national westminster bank midland bank and the national and commercial banking group which launched the access credit card now mastercard . that same year it introduced cashpoint the first online cash machine to use plastic cards with a magnetic stripe . 14 in popular use the cashpoint trademark has become a generic term for an atm in the united kingdom . under the leadership of sir brian pitman between 1984 and 1997 the bank s business focus was narrowed and it reacted to disastrous lending to south american states by trimming its overseas businesses and seeking growth through mergers with other uk banks . during this period pitman tried unsuccessfully to acquire the royal bank of scotland in 1984 standard chartered in 1986 15 and midland bank in 1992 . lloyds bank international merged into lloyds bank in 1986 since there was no longer an advantage in operating separately . 16 in 1988 lloyds merged five of its businesses with the abbey life insurance company to create lloyds abbey life . lloyds tsb edit the lloyds tsb logotype used 1995 2009 group and 1999 2013 bank . the bank merged first with the newly demutualised cheltenham & gloucester building society c & g then with the tsb group in 1995 . 17 18 the c & g acquisition gave lloyds a large stake in the uk mortgage lending market . 19 the tsb merger was structured as a reverse takeover ; lloyds bank plc was delisted from the london stock exchange and tsb group plc was renamed lloyds tsb group plc on 28 december with former lloyds bank shareholders owning a 70 % equity interest in the share capital effected through a scheme of arrangement . the new bank commenced trading in 1999 after the statutory process of integration was completed . 20 on 28 june tsb bank plc transferred engagements to lloyds bank plc which then changed its name to lloyds tsb bank plc ; at the same time tsb bank scotland plc absorbed lloyds three scottish branches becoming lloyds tsb scotland plc. the combined business formed the largest bank in the uk by market share and the second largest to midland bank now hsbc by market capitalisation . lloyds iconic black horse device was retained and modified to reflect the tsb merger . 21 22 lloyds abbey life became a wholly owned subsidiary of the group in 1996 absorbing hill samuel in 1997 before closing to new business in 2000 . in 2007 abbey life was sold to deutsche bank for 977 million . 23 in 1999 the group agreed to buy the scottish widows fund and life assurance society for 7 billion . 24 the society demutualised in 2000 shortly before the acquisition was completed . 25 in 2001 lloyds tsb made a bid to acquire abbey national ; however the bid was blocked by the competition commission who ruled that a merger would be against the public interest . 26 in october 2011 lloyds tsb s credit rating was reduced by moody s from aa3 to a1 . 27 the action was taken in the light of a shift in government policy to move risk from taxpayers to creditors by reducing the level of support offered to financial institutions . lloyds tsb was the first official partner for the 2012 summer olympics in london . 28 divestment and return to lloyds bank edit a rebranded lloyds bank branch in wetherby west yorkshire october 2013 after the 2008 rescue of hbos 29 lloyds tsb group was renamed lloyds banking group . 30 in 2009 following the liquidity crisis hm government took a 43.4 % stake in lloyds banking group . the european commission ruled that the group must sell a portion of its business by november 2013 as it categorised the stake purchase as state aid . 31 on 24 april 2013 it was confirmed that a number of lloyds tsb branches in england and wales would be combined with the branches of cheltenham & gloucester and the business of lloyds tsb scotland to form a new bank operating under the tsb brand and divested by the group . 32 the selected lloyds tsb branches and those of cheltenham & gloucester were transferred to lloyds tsb scotland plc which was renamed tsb bank plc. the new bank began operating on 9 september 2013 as a separate division within lloyds banking group . 33 tsb was floated on the london stock exchange on 20 june 2014 34 and was acquired by banco sabadell one year later and subsequently delisted . 35 the remaining business of lloyds tsb returned to the lloyds bank name on 23 september 2013 . 5 in october 2014 the bank announced that it planned to cut 9 000 jobs and close some branches in light of an increase in the number of customers using online banking services . 36 in july 2016 the bank announced it would cut 3 000 jobs because of the economic downturn as a result of united kingdom european union membership referendum . 37 services edit the teddington branch of lloyds bank in london designed by randall wells in 1929 . 38 the bank offers a full range of banking and financial services through a network of 1 300 branches in england and wales . 39 branches in jersey guernsey and the isle of man are operated by lloyds bank international limited while lloyds bank gibraltar limited operates in gibraltar