Big HBOS PFI schemes are now held in a seperate fund, ahead of this week's vote on the £12 billion HBOS/Lloyds TSB merger.
HBOS has announced a streamlining of its balance sheet, as it prepares to merge with Lloyds TSB.
The lender has now sold its stakes in 47 private finance initiative (PFI) schemes set up with the government. The holdings are now in a £434 million fund, in which HBOS retains a 50.1 percent stake.
This means that the assets are held off the lender's own balance sheet - with the fund itself being backed by four different pension funds. Having a less unwieldy balance sheet should make the merger deal easier to enact.
Scheduled to complete next January, the merger will see the creation of Britain's biggest lender.
The £12 billion deal between two of the UK's largest mortgage firms was agreed to earlier this year, as the property downturn eroded investor confidence in the firms and sent share values plunging. Figures from banks show that mortgage approvals numbers are down 50 percent on last year - and that house prices have declined by around 15 percent.
HBOS shareholders are to vote on the merger at a meeting later this week. The deal has already been approved by Lloyds TSB shareholders.
A tribunal today will hear the case of the Merger Action Group, a pressure organisation composed of around 500 HBOS investors which claims that the deal breaks competitiveness laws.
