International Business

Court Bars Bank Takeover of Thrift: The British High Court blocked Lloyds Bank’s proposed $2.66-billion takeover of Cheltenham & Gloucester Building Society, thus stopping what would have been the first merger of a British bank and thrift. The court ruled that Lloyds’ plan to give cash payments to people holding accounts with Cheltenham & Gloucester for less than two years violated the Building Societies Act of 1986, which governs the thrift industry. The new bank would have garnered about 7% of home mortgage lending and become Britain’s fourth-largest lender. It was the second time a Lloyds attempt to expand via a takeover has been thwarted. The first, in 1991, was its ill-fated bid for Midland Bank.