| Type | Subsidiary undertaking |
|---|---|
| Industry | Finance and insurance |
| Founded | 1850 |
| Headquarters | Barnwood, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom |
| Number of locations | 164 |
| Products | Financial services |
| Employees | c. 1660 (branch staff) |
| Parent | Lloyds Banking Group |
| Website | www.cheltglos.co.uk |
Cheltenham & Gloucester plc (C&G) is a mortgage and savings provider in the United Kingdom, a subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group. C&G specialises in mortgages and savings products. Previously, C&G was a building society, known as the Cheltenham and Gloucester Building Society. C&G is one of the largest mortgage lenders in the UK. Its headquarters is in Barnwood, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England.
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C&G can trace its roots back to the Cheltenham & Gloucestershire Permanent Mutual Benefit Building and Investment Association in 1850. At first the Society was based in Cheltenham, its first Gloucester branch opening in 1896. Over the next 80 years, it expanded throughout the UK, opening its 100th branch in Pershore in 1979. Throughout the 1980s, C&G acquired several smaller building societies, as consolidation of the sector intensified. C&G's headquarters were at Cheltenham House in central Cheltenham up until their move to Barnwood in 1989.[1] The then building society had commissioned a sculpture by British artist Barbara Hepworth, "Theme and Variations",[2] which can still be seen displayed on the front of Cheltenham House.
C&G converted to a bank in 1995,[3] and in 1997, C&G agreed to a takeover approach from Lloyds Bank. This involved the demutualisation of the society, and generated a windfall payment to its members.
Today, C&G mortgages are designed, marketed, sold and administered by Cheltenham & Gloucester plc, while Lloyds TSB Bank is the lender for C&G mortgages. On the savings side, C&G Savings is a division of Lloyds TSB Bank plc.
On 9 June 2009, it was reported that Lloyds Banking Group were to close Cheltenham & Gloucester's 164 branches in November of that year, at the cost of around 1,660 jobs.[4] Lloyds stated that the C&G brand name would be retained for mortgages and savings, while customers could use any branch of Lloyds TSB to access their accounts.[5] However, on 19 August 2009, Lloyds announced that it was to review this decision.[6]
Speculation has since arisen that Lloyds may sell off C&G, after the European Commission demanded in late 2009 that both it and Royal Bank of Scotland sell off existing branches in order to safeguard competition concerns, following their respective bail-outs by the UK government.[7]
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