The £12bn merger of banking giants Lloyds TSB and HBOS will lead to significant consolidation of IT systems across the two organisations.

Lloyds TSB revealed in the acquisition plan published today that three main areas of technology will be part of the synergies the combined company hopes to deliver.

Consolidation of IT infrastructure including datacentres and networks will take place, an integrated IT platform will be established for retail banking, as well as a single dealing and trading platform for wholesale banking.

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

Lloyds TSB director of group IT Darryl West instigated an offshore sourcing strategy after taking on the role in 2006 that has so far seen four platforms transferred overseas with a further six underway.

In May this year, the bank announced plans to move 450 IT jobs to India, with further areas of the IT division's 2,400-strong workforce expected to follow suit in future.

And Lloyds TSB is two years into a five-year outsourcing deal with Xansa to run its human resources operations out of a centre in India.

In contrast, when Halifax and Bank of Scotland completed their merger in 2003, the firm scrapped 10-year, £700m outsourcing deal with IBM to bring its systems back in-house.

But only last month, HBOS announced 100 job cuts, including some in IT, as the credit crunch started to bite.