Boscombe, Bridport, Sherborne and Wimborne branches of Lloyds bank have been sold to the CO-OP bank. All customers will now become Co-op account holders. The CO-OP have also bought all Cheltenham & Gloucester branches including Bournemouth, Dorchester, Gillingham, Poole and Sherborne.
This follows the part nationalisation of Lloyds in 2009 and the demands imposed by European regulators. Lloyds has to recoup the money spent by the government, on behalf of the taxpayer, aimed at bailing them out. The amount that they receive though appears to fall way short of the expected £1.5 billion originally desired.
This could be seen as a positive move by customers as the CO-OP is perceived by many analysts as one of the most ethical amongst high street banks.
