Brussels, 18/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 18 May, the European Commission approved the acquisition of the banking group TSB, following the demerger of the Lloyds banking group, by the Spanish bank Sabadell under the European Union's rules on mergers.
By selling all of the activities of TSB, Lloyds has implemented “one of the key measures” of its restructuring plan, which aims to limit competition distortions resulting from the public assistance it was granted during the financial crisis, the European institution states in a press release. It adds that once it is part of the Spanish bank, which will thereby gain a foothold on the British retail banking market, TSB will be a serious player on the British retail banking market.
“The Commission worked together with UK authorities to design a restructuring plan that ensured Lloyds' long-term viability and limited distortions to competition created by the aid”, the Commissioner for Competition announced in a press release.
In 2008, the United Kingdom gave Lloyds authorised state aid of £17 billion. The banking group then committed to a restructuring programme, which included selling certain retail banking activities in the United Kingdom, to offset the competition distortion caused by the state aid granted. In June 2014, Lloyds sold off a major part of its stake in TSB in an initial public offering and subsequent disposals on the London Stock Exchange. Once the operation with Sabadell has been concluded, Lloyds will no longer hold any stake in TSB. (Mathieu Bion)