Empty stores does not a new bank make

Unavoidable Nationalist overtones to one side, the loss of HBOS was a bitter blow to Scotland's external reputation and its internal self esteem.

The calls from some quarters that Bank of Scotland should be reinstated are silly and lack an understanding of just how integrated HBOS and Lloyds really are. Sadly, this bank is not for turning and will be slowly swallowed up by its dominant partner for years to come.

Anyway, what is the point in spending billions putting two banks together only to spend more billions pulling them apart. There is a recession on after all. Nick Clegg should think his burgeoning policy through or alternatively stop cheaply trying to win the SNP's votes with empty rhetoric:

"I believe we could and should try to give the Bank of Scotland back its independence rather than letting it be permanently lost in the leviathan of the Lloyds Banking Group."

For those with a more realistic view of how another Scottish bank could emerge, many will embrace the news that Ben Thompson looks likely to be trying to make it third time lucky in taking the shell of Lloyds TSB stores in Scotland and creating a business plan backed by a Scottish consortium. Tantalising stuff and a wonderful example of ambition and ingenuity.

What I don't understand though is why the option to buy old TSB retail space presents more of an opportunity for a new High Street bank any more than the availability of old Woolworths stores?

As new Government money goes into these banks and old stores are being flogged off, one has to wonder if the problem is really being fixed. Let's be honest, RBS and Lloyds are embarking on a period of cost-cutting so they would arguably have been getting rid of stores anyway. Why would Lloyds need an HBOS and a TSB on the same street for example? This EU ruling merely gives them the perfect excuse to crack on sooner rather than later.

Lloyds and RBS still have the capital, still have the customers and still have the dominant position which is dangerously close to illegal in the EU's eyes.

I'm not convinced that, despite some Scottish businessmen's best efforts, this EU ruling really changes much.