TSB brand to debut online ahead of high street launch

The site is the first stage of the reintroduction of the TSB brand and comes ahead of its return to the high street on 9 September when 631 branches will be renamed and customers’ accounts switched from Lloyds TSB.

Although visible this week, customers will not be able to login to tsb.co.uk until 8 September.

It will be first glimpse customers will have of the bank, which has been described in early marketing literature as the “the new face of banking” and a “new bank for a new Britain”. It will be positioned as an ethical, community bank.

Eight million Lloyds TSB account holders will be offered the same products initially but bespoke TSB products are being developed and will be introduced later.

A campaign to introduce the brand is expected in the next few weeks. Advertising agency Joint, the start-up led by former Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R executives Richard Exon and Damon Collins, has created the campaign.

Meanwhile, it has emerged Mike Regnier will oversee marketing strategy for TSB in the role of products and marketing director.

Regnier has been with TSB parent Lloyds Banking Group since its formation in 2009 most recently as personal accounts and credit cards director. Prior to Lloyds he held senior positions at HBOS and Asda.

TSB is expected to be floated through an initial public offering. A deal to sell the branches fell though in April after the Co-operative Group pulled out because of mounting debt. The flotation will need to be cleared by the European Commission, however, which demanded the sell-off after Lloyds Banking Group received state aid in 2009.

The TSB brand disappeared from the high street in 1995 following the merger of the TSB Group with Lloyds.