Sir, The proposal to revive the Trustee Savings Bank (TSB) brand is welcome but it should be returned to local trustees, who were always the rightful “owners” of the Trustee Savings Bank before its amalgamation and flotation in the 1980s (report, Nov 2). Rather than a resale to the private sector, the Government should consider spinning off some of the state-owned banking assets to form mutualised and not-for-profit banks alongside a revival of the state-owned National Girobank as a consumer savings bank.

None of these non-commercial banks should have sold in the first place, as they provided a safety net for poorer savers needing basic banking without the commercial frills. The present-day rot at the heart of the British banks was aggravated by the shift of many non-commercial banks and building societies into the commercial sector during the 1990s, along with mega-mergers such as that between Lloyds and the TSB and the creation of HBOS.

Another name that might make a return to the personal banking sector is the Midland Bank, subsumed into the HSBC Group since 1999. It was always a well-respected brand and once the world’s largest bank.

Anthony Rodriguez
Staines, Surrey

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