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The merger between Lloyds TSB and Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) will require a major consolidation of IT systems, it has been revealed.

News resource Computing reported that several areas of technology will be acquired to deliver better IT support to consumers while bringing together the newly-formed bank in a more synergised way.

This consolidation, it added, will include the merging of data centres and networks as well as the development of an integrated IT platform for retail banking and another for wholesale banking based around trading and dealing.

It added: "Lloyds TSB makes extensive use of offshore outsourcing and inevitably this is likely to play a role in the technology integration."

The decision differs from the merger which formed HBOS, where a ten-year outsourcing deal with IBM was scrapped to bring systems in-house.

Lloyds TSB made the £12.2 billion move for the failing bank after share prices plunged following the collapse of American firm Lehman Brothers.

More than half of small businesses (53%) believe that the most important benefit of outsourcing is guaranteed response times for IT support, London based Connect conducted the research in 2007.