Lloyds TSB has appointed a director of IT and operations to
oversee the
integration of HBOS.
Mark Fisher, who joins from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), will
sit on the group executive committee that will head the newly
formed bank.
At RBS he was CEO of the manufacturing division which employs
25,000 people supporting IT and other activities. He is currently
working on the integration of Dutch bank ABM AMRO, parts of which
were acquired by RBS late last year.
RBS led a consortium, which includes Banco Santander of Spain
and Belgian-Dutch Fortis, which acquired ABN Amro bank for £49bn.
The technology integration related to
this deal is a major challenge because of the bespoke systems
used by ABM AMRO, which is seen as a premier IT shop, according to
Ralph Silva, analyst at Towergroup.
Fisher's experience dealing with "complex integration activity"
will be critical as HBOS is integrated, according to Eric Daniels,
CEO at Lloyds TSB.
Rajeena Brar, banking analyst at Pierre Audoin Consultants, said
integrating ABM AMRO with RBS would be challenging because the
banks are from different countries.
"Because HBOS and Lloyds TSB are both in the UK a lot of systems
will be similar," added Brar.
See also:
Combined HBOS and Lloyds TSB IT to take big hit