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Halifax is a commercial bank in the
United
Kingdom, one of the trading names of the Bank of Scotland plc which is part of the HBOS Group. Prior to 1997, it was the UK's largest building society, known as the Halifax Building Society. The Halifax is the UK's largest provider of residential mortgages and saving accounts. It is named after the town of Halifax, West Yorkshire where it retains its headquarters. Its slogan is "Always giving you extra".
On 17 September 2007, 'Halifax' became a trading name of Bank of Scotland plc as part of reorganisation of the HBOS Group caused by the HBOS Group Reorganisation Act 2006.
Rogue
traders allegedly made £100m from the 17 per cent slump in HBOS shares
Revealed:
the dirty tricks of rogue traders - 23 March 2008
A
hedge fund based in London set up a "dirty-tricks unit" to
manipulate share prices and get illicit information on companies in an
attempt to make millions on the stock market, an insider has revealed.
As
the official hunt began for the rogue traders who tried to bring down
Britain's biggest mortgage lender, HBOS, The Daily Telegraph
can reveal a whistle-blower's account of how a multi-billion pound fund
allegedly used illegal tactics to drive down stock prices.
Private
detectives were allegedly employed to hack into executives' emails and
telephone records. Front companies
were set up to allow the hedge fund traders to pose as independent
researchers or journalists.
Negative
information on companies was then distributed to leading investment banks
in the hope that rumours would spread and some share prices would fall.
The hedge fund, which cannot be named for legal reasons, stood to make
millions from "short-selling" the shares as they fell in value.
The
allegations — made in a sworn statement seen by The Daily Telegraph and
which has been sent to financial regulators — will add to growing
concern over the activities of rogue traders in the City.
The
Financial Services Authority, the City regulator, has begun a criminal
investigation to find the trader who allegedly made £100 million from the
17 per cent slump in HBOS shares on Wednesday.
The
shares fell after "malicious" rumours were spread in the City
about the bank, sparking fears that the price had been illegally
manipulated — a move described as "the modern day version of bank
robbery".
FSA
investigators are seeking emails sent to traders that are thought to have
prompted widespread selling of HBOS shares. They claimed the bank was
experiencing difficulties.
Robert
Winnett
HBOS
suspends 'rogue banker' - 13 May 2007
HBOS
has suspended a rogue banker who unilaterally advanced millions of pounds
in loans to struggling corporate clients.
The
bank has lent much more aggressively than its major rivals over the past
few years and the strong line taken suggests it could be concerned about
rising levels of bad debt. The suspended banker worked in the turnaround
division of HBOS's Reading office, which handles clients that have hit
difficult trading or broken their banking covenants.
It
is understood that he managed a portfolio of loans worth in excess of £300m
and that the bank could easily lose tens of millions of this.
A
source close to the situation said: "He just over-lent and kept
advancing money to clients without authorisation."
"Everybody
knows he's lost a hell of a lot of money," said another insider. One
of the clients is understood to be a struggling airline based in the Isle
of Man.
In
March, when HBOS announced bumper profits for 2006, the one black spot was
an increase in bad debts from £1.6bn to £1.74bn and a warning that it
was "cautious about future trends". The bank's share price fell
by 4.6 per cent on the news.
HBOS
declined to comment.
Helen
Power, Sunday Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/05/13/cnhbos13.xml
HBOS HISTORY
Formation
The Halifax was formed in 1853 as the The Halifax Permanent Benefit Building and Investment Society. The idea was thought up in a meeting room situated above The Old Cock Inn close to the original Building Society building. Like all early building societies, the purpose of the Society was for the mutual benefit of local working people. Investors with surplus cash would invest in the society to receive interest, and borrowers could access loans to fund the purchase of a house.
Unlike many UK building societies which grew large by acquisitions and mergers, the Society choose an organic form of growth, and proceeded to open branches throughout the UK. By 1913, it was the largest building society in the UK. The first office in London opened in 1924; and the first offices in Scotland in 1928.
Halifax Building Society
The former headquarters of the Halifax- Trinity Road, Halifax, West YorkshireIn 1928, it merged with Halifax Equitable Building Society, then the second largest building society and was renamed Halifax Building Society. The Society was now five times larger than its nearest rival, with assets of £47 million.
A new Head Office was built at Trinity Road, Halifax in 1973. The distinguished diamond shaped building was used on marketing material during the 1980s and 90s. Underneath the building is a specially constructed deedstore which is used to store property deeds for an annual charge of £10. It is
computerised and filled with gas to prevent fire. Its importance has diminished in recent years because property data is now kept on a central database kept by Her Majesty's Land Registry.
Diversification
The Society continued to grow in size throughout the 20th century, remaining the UK's largest building society. The deregulation of the financial services industry in the 1980s, saw the passing of the Building Societies Act 1986 which allowed societies greater financial freedoms, and diversification into other markets. Accordingly the Halifax acquired an estate agents to complement its
mortgage business. It also expanded by offering current accounts and credit cards, traditionally services offered by commercial banks.
Demutalisation
The 1986 Act also allowed building societies to demutualise, and become public limited companies instead of mutually owned organisations, owned by the customers who borrowed and saved with the society. Although the Abbey National demutualised in 1989, the process was not repeated until the late 1990s, when most of the large societies announced demutalisation plans. In 1995, the Halifax announced it was to merge with the Leeds Permanent Building Society and convert to a plc. The Halifax floated on the London Stock Exchange on June 2, 1997. Over 7.5 million customers of the Society became shareholders of the new bank, the largest extension of shareholders in UK history.
HALIFAX plc
A high-street branch of the Halifax.As Halifax plc, the new bank was the fifth largest in the UK in terms of market capitalisation. Further expansion took place with the 1996 acquisition of Clerical Medical Fund Managers, a UK life insurance company. In 1999, the Halifax acquired the Birmingham Midshires Building Society and ComparetheLoan. In 2000, Halifax established Intelligent Finance, a telephone and internet based bank.
HBOS
In 2001, a wave of consolidation in the UK banking market led Halifax to agree a £10.8 billion merger with the Bank of Scotland. The new group was named Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) with headquarters in Edinburgh, but retaining both Halifax and the Bank of
Scotland as brand names. However in Scotland, Halifax branches were amalgamated with the Bank of Scotland, and the Halifax brand is now only used for branding mortgages and savings products. Halifax branches in the rest of the UK use the Bank of Scotland brand for business banking. In 2006, the opposite occurred when the Bank of Scotland (Ireland), HBOS's main retail bank in the Republic of Ireland, announced that it would be rebranding its retail business as Halifax, citing the Irish public's exposure to Halifax advertising on ITV as among the reasons. The Bank of Scotland name will be retaining for business banking.
In 2006, the HBOS Group Reorganisation Act 2006 was passed. The aim of the Act was to simplify the corporate structure of HBOS. The Act was fully implemented on 17 September 2007 and the assets and liabilities of Halifax plc transferred to Bank of Scotland plc. The Halifax brand name will be retained as a trading style, but it no longer exists as a corporate entity.
Halifax Bank of Scotland saw shares dive nearly 20 percent at one point, on March 19, 2008, before recovering as the bank robustly denied rumors of liquidity problems that revived fears over the impact of the global credit
crunch. Heads of major British banks met with the governor of the Bank of England following days of market pressure on lenders' stocks. The Bank of England told after the March 20, 2008-meeting that participants had "agreed to continue their close dialogue with the objective of restoring more orderly market conditions." The bank's statement steadied the share price of HBOS after falling steeply in early trading March 19,
2008.
IRRESPONSIBLE
LENDING
TV ADVERTS
Halifax pioneered an innovative approach to bank adverts in 2000, when it allowed its staff to star in adverts, singing popular songs with the words changed to reflect financial services products. Halifax worker Howard Brown is the regular star of the adverts. Following the merger with the Bank of Scotland, this practice has continued, with the Bank of Scotland also allowing its staff to take part.
In December 2006, Natalie Webster and four other Halifax colleagues Richard Willoughby, Jilly Ellard, Nicola Roberts and Paul Dudley, flew to Johannesburg to film the 'Halifax remix' of Aretha Franklin's 'Think'. The advert has been on air since February 2007. Another advert filmed stars Thomas Yau from Leeds singing a version of Herman's Hermits 'I'm into Something Good'. This advert has been on air since January 2008.
LINKS
and REFERENCE
Halifax
MONEY
FINDER
Kulo
Luna $billion dollar whale
When
a pirate whaler kills a small humpback whale, her giant friend sinks the
pirate ship to avenge the death, but is itself wounded. The pirates put
a price on the whale's head, but an adventurer in an advanced solar
powered boat races to beat the pirates and save the wounded animal.
A
heartwarming action adventure: Pirate whalers V Conservationists, with
an environmental message and a $Billion dollars riding on the winner.
For release as an e-book in 2016 with hopes for a film in 2018.
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