The merger between Lloyds TSB and HBOS may have run intro trouble after a sudden drop in the value of HBOS.

Shares in HBOS feel by 40% from 188p to 98p which could force a renegotiation on the sale.

The fall in share price means that HBOS is now valued at half of the £12.5 billion Lloyds had agreed to pay for it.

The Government has backed the deal and Gordon Brown has insisted that merger will still go ahead.