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When asked by Mortgage Adviser at a press conference held at Dresdner Kleinwort's City offices on Thursday, Eric Daniels, chief executive of Lloyds TSB, said: "The intermediary market forms a very important part of our business and we have every intention for that to remain the case."

The £12.2bn takeover of HBoS by Lloyds TSB was confirmed last week after a week of speculation regarding the stability of the former lender caused a 70 per cent drop it its share price.

Speaking at the conference, Mr Daniels, who will lead the combined group, said more help would be provided for first-time buyers from the group.

He said: "The first-time buyer market is something that is very important for society and it is important for the financial services market to try and figure out because very clearly there is a consumer demand and we would like to serve our customers as best we can.

"Both organisations have done some work in figuring out how we can get mortgages to be more accessible for first-time buyers and what we are saying is that we are going to continue our efforts to seek innovative solutions to this. HBoS has put in more work than Lloyds TSB has on that."

The conference also revealed HBoS and Lloyds TSB had been in discussions about a merger of the two brands for several years.

Sir Victor Blank, chairman of Lloyds TSB Group, said while a joining of the two brands had been looked at for many years, it was not until six weeks ago that the opportunity arose for a deal to be made.

Sir Victor said a window of opportunity for the deal to be completed only opened once market conditions changed, as it was agreed by the government the takeover would not be contested by the Competition Commission.

He said: "It only happened as the government was willing to give their support in relation to competition issues. It was then on Monday night that Gordon Brown gave his support."

Andy Hornby, chief executive of HBoS, said a joining of the brands had "always been seen as a sensible idea" and while many called the takeover a rescue this deal was not as a result of HBoS being "brought to its knees".

He said: "HBoS was still funding successfully but it did not want to take the risk in this market when share prices were so volatile."

While Mr Daniels said the HBoS brands were very strong, he was unable to commit to whether all the brands would be retained.

Mr Daniels said: "We have a wonderful combination here of of very strong brands not only in the UK but globally. HBoS is the most trusted financial services brand in the UK.

"We will review the catalogue of brands and arrive at something that is a very sensible decision."

Mr Daniels said it was likely that HBoS would assume the same risk profile as Lloyds TSB, which has in the past been criticised by some industry commentators for being too conservative.

He said: "Undoubtedly Lloyds TSB has been the more conservative lender and it would be an appropriate position at this point."