This really is the best possible outcome and I for one think a disaster has been averted by the takeover.

Ex-Lehman-Worker, London, UK

Out of interest where is the gov't bail-out for the struggling small businesses [that employ the majority of the country]. Seems you need to be worth millions to deserve any support at all! Short term cash flow is hitting all businesses hard [and not always due to misguided punts based on greed]!

Dean Moull, Manchester, UK

The financial industry stinks. The current collapse appears to be caused by companies sailing very close to the wind and without sufficient regulation. I hope that management bonuses reflect the mess that the industry is in.

Singe, Macclesfield, UK

Ok. So now we have a company with 1/3 of the mortgage assets in this country and who is to stop them from lending in the same pattern that started this whole mess?

David Sars, exeter, UK

I bought a few thousand HBOS shares Wednesday morning and it now looks as if I'm going to make several hundred quid in one day. Sounds nice but I aged a year or two on Wednesday afternoon when it was all going mad. Am I wrong to make use of the system and if so, why?

Pierre, Southampton, Hants

Well capitalised with good access to funding - according to the FSA.
BUT it needs a rescue & competition law bending!
Isn't it time banks matched the expiry dates of their lending with the expiry dates of their funding, instead of Basel ratios? 25 year Pension funds could = mortgage lending

N Reed, Truro, UK

It is precisely because the Government expanded the economy by borrowing too much that these banks put that cheap money into loans. The music was bound to stop and when it does liquidity dries up. Don't look to capitalism, look to politicians who buy votes with other's money.

Bob, Hong Kong, China

By fiddling the inflation rates, both the US and Brown's UK have managed to promote a housing boom which did not cause interest rates to rise.

The fiddling was done to avoid dealing with the problem of index linked pensions and benefits head on.

Now all of the pigeons have come home to roost

Harry H, London, UK

The '30s all over again. The banking elite flood the market with easy money and loans then call it all back. The result is simple; the people at the very top further consolidate their wealth and power bases. For government to say nobody could have predicted this is pure nonsense. Viva la revolution!

Jonathan, Oxfordshire, England

Gordon caused this mess when he was chancellor by not ensuring the toothless FSA were enforcing regulations. Now we are suffering the consequences.

However, If HBOS fell it would cause a further devastating downward spiral on the world economy. He has made the right decision.

Sean, London, UK

When the UK stockmarket hit this wildd turbulent period why was tradding not suspended for a time to allow the market to settle down.
What was the Financial Services Authority and the Government thinking, why did they not act. I see this as a deliberate ploy to weaken Scottish Banking
System.

John Gilhooly, Dalgety Bay, Scotland

The Monopolies and Mergers Commision would never allow this takeover. Strange how convenience can override regulation. What point therefor in regulation?

colin, wolverhampton, UK

Why are these hedge-fund spivs not in jail? These criminals seem to be above the law. Its making me lose respect for the whole free market, our capitalist extremist society, Britain and making a mockery of democracy. Our own Labour Government appear to be at the mercy of these conmen.

Julie , London, UK

I hope the short-sellers are proud of their achievements. As a result of their actions, 40,000 will lose their jobs. Everyone will end up paying more in bank charges due to less competition. Ordinary people have seen their investments massively fall in value. Well done. Congratulations.

GB, Wakefield,

Its so tragically ironic at a time when the berlin wall of the free market is crashing down the Labour Party which could reassert its social democratic values is in such disarray. There is not an ounce of credibility left in the free market when govt are intervening to bail banks out.

Julie , London, Uk

look on the bright side! Nobody is talking about house prices falling anymore

willima rodgers, paris,

It is high time for some action to curtail shorting by speculators.
'Investors' are being hammered increasingly over the last few years by HEDGE FUNDS and other shorters who appear to be able to bring down any company at will. This could eventually lead to mass exodus of small investors.

E O'Donnell, Birmingham,

Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling whom I seldom praise deserve enormous credit for brokering this deal. As a HBOS shareholder I am disappointed at the reported price but it is good for the UK economy. A collapse of UK's largest mortgage lender would have been a disaster for our economy.

Haroon Abbasi, London,

"b) they're legitimate (hedge funds) and no different to Paddy Power. You either ban betting in the UK, or you permit hedge funds."

Another possibility is to tax them, along with other destructive speculative spiv type "investments".

Michael Sims, London, United Kingdom

But wait - why do Hbos need rescuing, they keep telling us they are doing fine ?

Sean, London,

Well done, Gordon.

Bob, London,

HBOS is gonner , Lloyds can not save this bank its treatment of poor people through high charges is disgusting and its good the hedge funds of the world have destroyed this unrepent bank.

tomas opppeinheimer, london, uk

Interesting for Goro and his adviser on the lending / housing market - Crosbie was the guy behind merging BOS and Halifax and the resulting disaster for BOS. So who wants to listen to Crosbie any longer. Gordo has the golden touch !

Freddie, Largs, Ayrshire

Brown inflated house prices when he took pension money causing a rush to buy property instead of a pension. Mandelson pushed prices much further along when he got away with his inflated loan application and all involved with housing made more in commision. Brown now has us all paying for HBOS?.

alan, worcs, UK

oh goody, another monopoly- how new Labour- nationalise that Bruin when it goes bust- which it will

peter c, Devizes, Wessex

Am I cynical, UK manufacturing allowed to go to the wall, UK farmers hammered, UK small business gets a kicking.
Most of these have been subject to high levels of interest by city and banks( who are no longer UK owned)
The banks fail and get govt largesse thrown at them.
Think I wil open a bank.

Dave, Chorley,

Leaving the market alone in this case would result in an even worse loss of jobs and an even deeper economic crisis. Allowing another default would only stoke market fear.

It's not often he merits praise, but by promoting decisive action Brown has hopefully helped avert a worsening of the crisis.

Tharsh, Harrow, UK

Who would have thought that the house price bubble would become some inflated that it would consume so many long established banks.

Anthony , London, UK

'Gordon Brown steps in'
What he had was a quick chat at a pre arranged banking champagne get together. Who would take advice of the man anyhow?

rob, ashbourne, uk

Lloyds have been after Halifax for nearly a year and it was done overnight, Lloyds are not geared and have taken minimum risk since at least '04, dont forget they also fought of an hostile take over around that time. They wanted Halifax and by hook or by crook they were going to get it!

Abigail, Higher Broughton, Lancashire

Tom Franklin.
Tiny Rowlands was an asset stripper and very very good at , Short selling is exactly the same but without getting your hands dirty.

david devonport, Great Yarmouth, UK

I am confused. Brown 'intervened' on Monday night, but the HBOS share price didn't start to really plummet until Tuesday. Until then, HBOS had been regarded (rightly) as a solid institution with good capitalisation. Did Gordon Brown create this crisis by starting rumours about HBOS on Monday?

Graham, Edinburgh, UK

Erm, I work for HBOS. I can safely say that we have never made 'billions', we have never offered 5x salary mortgages and given credit cards out with no checks. We're in this mess because we have borrowed too much on the wholesale markets. Simple. Now I'm just hoping I have a job next year

Laura, Edinburgh,

Leave the market alone. Government has no business interfering and attempting to prevent the rightly-deserved failure of corporations who have not equipped themselves sufficiently to stand current conditions.

This government is obsessed with refusing to live with failure - in individuals and firms

Laura Roberts, London, UK

If chinese are on their way to capitalism long time ago whats the problem of a few nationalizations in the west? Now fair competition will begin. I wouldnt lower the minumum working age though

RDS, Braga, Iberia,EU,

HBOS - LLoyds will be merger in shares not cash payment. I am amazed that you have not discussed Government and Bank of England involvement as this merger can not go ahead without significant backing from Bank of England. Lloyds could not meet HBOS liabilities on its own .

Stephen Jones, Penarth, UK

But will we be treated to a Prime Minesterial telecast? Brown on his great white stead with the flag of Britannia unfurled riding into the enemy.............

That'll cheer everyone up alright!

C Richards, Bristol,

I am amazed that Brown has intervened and more so that the City would listen to be frank. As many others have commented, this will be a catastrophic move for possibly 40,000 staff from both banks - has this really been thought over properly or is this a knee jerk to be the biggest disaster ever?

Sally Cummings, Wendover, Buckinghamshire

HBOS and all the other banks were making billions only a few years ago where is that money gone, the blame is down to HBOS, government and FSA they let people borrow 5 times there salary for mortgages and give out credit cards with no checks now it has come back to haunt them.

Gary scales, hornchurch, england

"You 're all mad... still the economys steady- at least not a boom and bust policy"
Jay Reisis, Stockport,

Sorry, but I think it is you who is certifiable. The economy's steady is it? Do you have any idea what is falling around us, by the hour?

Tom Franklin, London, UK

On one side authoritues say that HBOS is a solid, healthy bank.
On another side, suddenly HBOS need to be rescued.
How does that happen?
Goverment is guilty for allowing speculators to drive the good bank into dead end. As a result millions of shareholder lose their hard-earned money!! Horrible!!

Vitali, Doha,

They are what Edward Heath referred to as ‘the unacceptable face of capitalism' and should be dealt with as such.
Mike, Valencia, Spain

a) he was referring to Tiny Rowland, not hedges
b) they're legitimate and no different to Paddy Power. You either ban betting in the UK, or you permit hedge funds.

Tom Franklin, London, UK

Brown intervened? How come he seems to be unable to translate this dynamic personality into his politics? Or should the headline read "Brown goes to dinner in the city" should this be the real story?

steve tea, manchester, cheshire

At last Brown is showing some clear leadership...

Carlos Ottery, dongguan,

Exactly, after YEARS of being bombarded with some of the worst ads ever devised. it is poetic justice.

ronnie, bucks, UK

You 're all mad - at least Brown is trying to save the economy - at least his "doing" instead of talking like some sniffling kid that is Cameron. BRown has done well considering Nrock, Bradford & Bingley - A & L every ones going bust but still the economys steady- at least not a boom and bust policy

Jay Reisis, Stockport,

Thats HBOS done for then, the Brown curse will get them.

Gavin, London, UK

Hasn't Brown got better things to do with Government money, for Government see British tax payer's, money? I'd have thought there were far more needful accounts for that money to go into.

Walter Wall, Amsterdam, NL

You are all missing it , this isnt about money any more , it will all be worthless in a years time anyway , rioting unemployment and total anarchy will have taken over and only the fittest will survive,...one way to avoid this , but by the time you ask it will be too late ...god help our kids ....

Andy, Chalfont , England

it seems someone is making a huge profit from share dealing whilst ordinary share holders lose. Perhaps Mr Brown can personally intervene and show a little concern for the 'common people'

Mike, Sole Street, England

Let the market decide,why is the government intervening. let the market sort it out.Is this a capatlist economy or isn't it? Investors took good times now they have to take the bad.What next ,subsidised bread,co-operative farms ? Part time capitalism doesn't work.

neal, Reading,

The big boys didn't like it when HBOS de-mutualised. This is just the result of a long drawn out campaign to bring it under their wing. Should never have de-mutualised in the first place! Time to move my money.

Ron, Milton Keynes, UK

Competitively this makes no sense, then I read Gordon Brown intervened - now I'm worried - Guess who is lining up his next cushy job..

Nick, Bedford, UK

the Treasury and the Bank of England have really learnt their lesson and they are being absolutely ruthless…in intervening when a bank is in trouble

...but not so quick to intervene when the banks are fleecing customers!

Mike, London, United Kingdom

The suggestion that HBOS shareholders will receive a derisory 2 pounds per share is disgusting. HBOS share price has plumeted due to speculation a short selling. That Lloyds should capitalize on this is unethical. the short sellers will just move on the Lloyds, RBS, or Barclays.

Clint, liverpool,

Exactly the rescue that would have taken place when the BoE had the power to do it before the cretinous McBroon took away that power and gave it to the inept FSA. So now, after the debacle that McBroon and his hand-puppet Ally-boy executed with NRock, we are back to what we had in April 1997. Jokers

billy tooke, London, Uk

i hope there wont be thousands of idiots, all lined up outside hbos's, trying to draw all their money out just like they did at northern rock.

dave, essex,

If anything proves that Mervyn King Calamity McCarthy A Darling and G brown were responsible for the Northern rock fiasco, this does. They should personally pay out to people who lost their pensions

John, London,

Well the banks have got away ripping off their customers with spurious charges for decades, the FSA was asleep on Northern Rock, and all UK banks executives received their big bonuses based on performance of their creative financial products. well thats the UK, whats happening to European Banks????

Davidwhitefoot, Oxford, UK

So could this mean that if Lloyds take on HBOS we could have seen the last of Howard???

See there's always a silver lining!

Jon Spokes, Canterbury,

HBOS is over-leveraged like most banks in the UK today. In a falling housing market they are at greater risk due to increased defaults. The Black Horse has ridden to the rescue, unfortunately only because they were to slow to get on the boom wagon. The end of the world is here, buy defendable land.

Jim, London,

The HBOS situation just shows the power of hedge funds which are now regarded as vultures. Except that they are worse than vultures, which do nothing to hasten the end of their victims.
They are what Edward Heath referred to as ‘the unacceptable face of capitalism' and should be dealt with as such.

Mike, Valencia, Spain

we are in the middle of something that will be studied for years and years to come. Well done the US!! thank god I taught myself how to short sell.

andy, Perth, Australia

Santander are probably very upset - they could have picked up another prime UK asset very cheaply if not for the AL bid although it's not too late for this government to give HBOS away to a foreign company rather than an english one.

David, London,

The government should keep out. Afterall, it is the government so called institution the FSA and their counterparts in the USA, that are the main cause of this upheaval. It is unfair and unethical to make the ordinary people pay for bankers' long standing greed and the millions they have taken out

Sinan, London,

the merger with lloyds will just bring down the both of them in the fullness of time
solution is to do a northern rock but has the gov got the courage

mike mckeary, paisley, scotland

Maddest day of my career.

Still making money though!

Tony the Trader, Canary Wharf,

These robotrades are causing chaos, take the computers back out of the buy/sell decisions... make it fully manual again with people in control in the loop

paulc, gloucester,

How comforting to know that I am a invested in an institution with another 15 million savers, er 14 million, er 13 million.............

SRB, Abergele, UK

The best way to deal with the crisis is to nationalise HBOS. We did it with Northern Rock already, and it worked (so far). Only the state can handle this scale of intervention!

Peter, Liverpool, UK

We' have seen the best and worst of the market. Y'day shorting and speculation and today a market reaction. In a years time it will be clear Lloyds have bought themselves a bargain.

Peter, Tiverton,

Is HBOS really "STRICKEN". The Times really seems to want to talk down this Bank. Most of the comments I have heard today is that HBOS is stable but is being undersold by crooks! Would it not be better if these people were identified? Come on Times; some proper investigative journalism is require

M. Cawdery, Craigavon, Co. UK, EU