One of the best known names in Scottish banking is moving to England amid growing financial service sector nerves about Scottish independence, it was claimed yesterday.
Reports said TSB Bank, which has its roots in the trustee savings bank founded in Dumfries-shire by the Rev Henry Duncan of Ruthwell in 1810, was to become London-domiciled ahead of its £1.5billion flotation on the stock market.
TSB Bank, which has 185 Scottish branches, is incorporated in Scotland and is registered at Henry Duncan House in Edinburgh.
A spokesman for the bank denied claims of a politically motivated shift and said there were no plans to change where the bank was registered.
However, the bank and its 631 branches have their official corporate head office at 20 Gresham Street, London.
A new holding company, TSB Banking Group, will be registered in Companies House records to the same address.
A spokesman for TSB said this was no different from before, when the previous holding entity, a technical corporate structure, was also registered in London.
He added: “The new company replaces an existing company which currently holds TSB Bank in the LBG (Lloyd’s Banking Group) corporate structure and, like this existing company, will be registered in London at TSB’s main office.
“Establishing new companies as part of a listing or IPO (initial public offering) process is standard practice.”
Despite his assertion that there was really no change, it did not take long before claims of a cross-border raid emerged.
One report said: “The decision by Lloyds Banking Group to domicile TSB in England comes just seven months ahead of the referendum on Scottish independence, which could leave its existing Edinburgh headquarters in a foreign country.”
Another said: “In a move which will be taken by some as another sign that big business is increasingly concerned about the prospect of an independent Scotland, the bank is to place its 631-branch subsidiary into a new holding company registered in London.
“It is a marked change from TSB’s current ownership structure.”
The reports follow hot on the heels of Business Minister Vince Cable saying it was “inevitable” that Royal Bank of Scotland would relocate in the event of a Yes vote in the independence referendum. TSB is to float in the first half of this year in a move to appease EU regulators following LBG’s financial crisis bailout by the UK Government.
It is expected to achieve a valuation between £1.5billion and £2billion. LBG is widely expected to sell down a stake of between 30% and 50%.