At 182 High Street, Lloyds TSB can be found between the Halifax and Fashion Fair. The TSB of the title refers to the Trustees Savings Bank, an institution which can trace its roots back to 1810 when the Reverend Henry Duncan of Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire, set up a bank to help his poorest parishioners save for times of hardship. (A bit like the idea behind the Waltham Forest Community Credit Union). Fattened up for public consumption, the TSB Group eventually floated on the stock exchange in 1986, to be gobbled up by Lloyds in 1996, the same year they'd taken over the Cheltenham and Gloucester that has recently been shut on our High Street after they ran it down to nothing.
Lloyds itself has always grown by taking over other institutions, having undertaken over 50 bank take-overs since its foundation in 1765. It is now the fifth largest bank in the UK. Underlying profits for 2007 were up by 6%, to £3.92bn, and shareholders had their dividend total raised by 5% to 35.9p a share. The group wrote off £280m worth of risky sub-prime loans, but that is only a fraction of the figure suffered by rivals such as Barclays, whose poor lending judgements led to a £1.6bn write-down.
Apart from its habit of eating up its neighbours, there are several other talking points about Lloyds TSB. They offer a sharia-compliant business account, and a sharia student account. Truett Tate, group executive director of wholesale and international banking at Lloyds TSB, is quoted as saying that "Britain is rapidly establishing itself as a centre of Islamic finance and Lloyds TSB has been at the forefront of this growth."
Other recent contributions to the current cultural environment include Lloyds TSB being the first Official Partner for the London 2012 Olympic Games, having stumped up £80 million for the privilege, something which will be of interest to locals affected by the Great Olympic Land Grab, but who have yet to see any benefits as a result of the hullabaloo, just museum and library cutbacks by our cash-strapped local authority.
Lloyds TSB does has a commitment to improving its image through other sponsorships and charitable donations: it sponsors the Asian Jewel Awards to 'recognise and celebrate the wealth of experience, expertise, success as well as the significant and valuable contribution made by the Asian community in Britain today'. (They do not sponsor awards to recognize any other ethnic minority in the UK or the achievements of the general population). In 2006, Lloyds TSB Foundation sponsorship supported the salary of a team co-ordinator in West London at the East European Advice Centre, whose aim is to 'help any socially and economically disadvantaged Eastern Europeans in their efforts to settle in the UK'. They are currently sponsoring no projects which assist people in Walthamstow.
Image at the bank is important. Even at the top. The Chairman of Lloyds TSB is Sir Victor Blank, who raised eyebrows in 2006 by using Carter-Ruck Solicitors (notorious to readers of Private Eye) to obtain an apology from the Master of St. Catherine's College, Oxford, in a row over University funding for colleges.
But is the bank any good for its customers? In general, theirs do not rate as among the best products available on moneysavingexpert.com, but they do have some good deals - their student account may be attractive for people who have their financial act together and there is a good deal for people who already have balances of £9,000 or more in Cash ISAs- they are offering 6.5% Tax Free AER on a Fixed Rate Cash ISA for people who transfer that amount to Lloyds and will leave it there for a year.
Its not great art, but in January 2008, "I Fought the Lloyds" by Oystar made the charts in support of those campaigning to get their bank charges refunded by Lloyds.