Lloyds says its preferred option for the sale of 632 bank branches is to sell them to the Co-operative Group. The mutually-owned Co-op had been in competition with new bank venture NBNK for the assets. Lloyds will now enter exclusive talks with the Co-op, which runs a financial services division along with a supermarket retail arm.
It comes as Lloyds said boss Antonio Horta-Osorio was to return to work from sick leave on 9 January. Taking over the Lloyds retail branches would give the Co-op the chance to become Britain's seventh-biggest....Read more here-: BBC News - Lloyds names Co-op as preferred buyer of bank branches