The Halifax bank (then Halifax plc) was created in the mid-1990s when the Halifax Building Society was demutualised and shares were sold on the London Stock Exchange. It was the largest mutual building society, and the Halifax remained one of Britain's major financial institutions, with the largest share of the mortgage market.

It took its name from its original base of Halifax in West Yorkshire.

In the summer of 2001 it was agreed to merge the Halifax with the Bank of Scotland to form HBOS plc (Halifax Bank of Scotland), which is one of the largest commercial banks in Britain.

See also Bank of Scotland.