HBoS creates 1,500 jobs in business banking drive

About 1,500 new recruits will promote the HBOS brand in the business banking market over the next three years.

HBOS, created last month by the merger of Halifax and Bank of Scotland and seen here promoting its new logo, already has a 33 per cent share of the Scottish business banking market. It now aims to increase its presence in England and Wales, where business banking is dominated by the Big Four banks. HBOS's new staff will include 400 local managers to make decisions about the firms they will personally deal with.

HBOS is also trying to grab market share with an internet banking service for businesses, called the E-Business Deposit Account.

Most of the larger players in business banking have attracted criticism for the higher profit margins in the sector than on accounts for individuals. The Competition Commission identified a "complex monopoly" in business banking and has passed a report to the Department of Trade and Industry.