THE merger of HBOS and LLoyds TSB could be threatened by a rival bid for the Scottish bank.

One day after the government rubber-stamped the deal it has emerged that Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy has been trying to secure an alternative buyer for the Halifax Bank of Scotland.

Mr Murphy says he is in talks with Scottish financier Jim Spowart, who may have already found an interested party among his Merchant Banking contacts in London.

“Jim and I will be having more talks today,” he said, adding: “I have spoken to the Treasury and if there is a second serious bid then they (Treasury) would be happy to talk to them.”

Spowart, founder of Intelligent Finance, has been critical of a planned merger, accusing Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling of attempting to ‘railroad’ it through.

However, he stressed that an any alternative deal was at a very early stage.

He told the Scotsman newspaper: “There’s a possibility that a financial services organisation has expressed an interest in making an approach to the bank.

“This came as a result of a merchant banker approaching me and I thought, given what I had leaned, I should alert the Government. We are just checking the territory at the moment.”

Business Secretary Peter Mandleson yesterday gave the green light for the £12bn merger between HBOS and Lloyds TSB arguing the public interest of “preserving the stability of the financial system” outweighed any potential anti-competitive effects.

It is believed this ‘superbank’ deal would lead to an estimated 40,000 job losses and the closure of HBOS’s Edinburgh headquarters.

Mr Spowart added: “I have said before that HBOS is certainly manageable on its own - and, indeed, it would be better if it was kept independent and allowed to trade out over the next three years.

“I fear we are now sleepwalking towards a deal that does not make sense for consumers, shareholders or the country at large.”

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