Lloyds chiefs face Salmond amid anger over HBOS deal

Many Scots are furious at the prospect of an English takeover of their national bank, and today one of its leading bankers even outlined an alternative plan to lead a buyout of the Bank of Scotland part of the business.

Jim Spowart, the Scottish banker who founded Intelligent Finance, today said while he did not disagree with the need for the "shotgun wedding" rescue of HBOS, he was worried about the fate of the thousands of bankers in Scotland.

"We have some of the best bankers in the world in Scotland. It would be a disaster to see their talents wasted," he said.

Spowart told the BBC he thought it would be possible to gain funding to buy the Bank of Scotland division after the Lloyds takeover had gone through.

Reports have suggested he and a consortium of other bankers were looking to raise £6 billion to buy the division.

Other names mentioned in the Scottish press as possible backers of the plan include Sir Angus Grossart, Sir George Mathewson, the former Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive, Sir Peter Burt, formerly chief executive of Bank of Scotland, and others. It is not clear which, if any, of the men have agreed to be part of any consortium.

However, Spowart did not give any details about where his financing might come from. Critics were dismissive of his plans, pointing out that, if HBOS struggled to get capital from the markets, a smaller Bank of Scotland would find life even harder.

Salmond will push for the headquarters of the new "superbank" to be in Scotland, amid concerns about tens of thousands of job losses.

In a bid to placate Scottish sensibilities and, cynics say, voters in Gordon Brown's Labour heartlands, Lloyds has said the "management focus" was to keep jobs in Scotland.