In her enthusiasm for her new job, Helen Weir sometimes veers dangerously close to Private Eye territory. “Prudence is the new black. Old-fashioned banking is now very much the fashion,” Lloyds TSB's executive director of UK retail banking said.

But Ms Weir has more pressing things on her mind than an appearance in the satirical magazine that loves skewering new-blackists.

Six months into the job, she has the unexpected possibility of almost doubling her empire and yesterday introduced a revamp of the bank's retail offerings, with an emphasis on austerity.

Lloyds TSB launched a £12billion all-share takeover of HBOS, its ailing rival, last month. The proposed acquisition would create a high street behemoth - an extra 1,100 branches on top of Lloyds TSB's existing 1,800 outlets, 22million customers on top of Lloyds's 16million and 72,000 employees to add to Lloyds's 67,000. Lloyds TSB's slow-and-steady business model has come into its own.

Ms Weir said: “[The HBOS deal] is very exciting. It's a unique opportunity and the fact that we're able to take advantage of this reflects the prudent strategy we've been following for a number of years. This wasn't a one-off piece of luck.”

The 46-year-old former management consultant is not complacent about the task in front of her, but she said that the overlap between the two banks and the potential for thousands of job cuts had been overplayed. “HBOS customers look for slightly different things than Lloyds customers,” she said.

“They've got a younger profile, they're more price-orientated, less service-orientated. The obvious strategy is not to bury the two together and say we're one big brand. There may be roles for more than one brand.” Nor is shutting branches. “Sometimes, with closing branches, the savings you make are outweighed by customer attrition.”

With natural staff turnover of up to 15 per cent a year, she hopes that compulsory redundancies will not be widespread, although she was ready to make cuts if necessary. “To deliver value, sometimes tough decisions have to be taken,” she said.

Ms Weir has previous experience at melding brands. She advised businesses on strategy during five years at McKinsey & Co and worked on merging Castorama into Kingfisher during her four years as finance director of the DIY giant.

The deal with HBOS is not expected to close until early next year, and in the meantime, Ms Weir is polishing Lloyds TSB's existing retail business. She set customer focus groups the question: “If Carlsberg did banking, what would it look like?” - and was surprised by the result. “People said: 'Products and price are fine, but it's about the experience, it's about the relationship we have with our bank.' They were harking back to the way we used to bank, when the bank manager would help me but also tell me if I'm going a bit off the rails.”

Yesterday, Lloyds TSB launched a range of booklets with simple advice on managing money, becoming financially independent, saving for retirement, getting a mortgage and other topics.

A website with similar advice (www.lloydstsb.com/savvysaver) was launched yesterday, as was a roadshow hosted by Alvin Hall, the personal finance guru, who will be doing a tour of Lloyds TSB branches this week to give free savings seminars. Information is available from branches.

Ms Weir said: “It's a skill that perhaps a previous generation learnt at a young age but is less the case now. People do need help. A lot of people find financial services and financial products quite intimidating. They want to be helped through this.”

Lloyds TSB is not alone in pushing for savings - its rivals would also like to win more savings and current accounts while the wholesale money market is frozen.

The environment is much tougher for the banks, but Ms Weir looks like she is enjoying every second of her first big general management role and is relishing the opportunity presented by HBOS. “It's a much bigger portfolio and a bigger challenge, but it's a very exciting time,” she said.

Helen Weir

1983-85: graduate trainee, Unilever
1985-90: MBA and research, Stanford Business School
1990-95: consultant, McKinsey & Co
1995-2000: finance director, B&Q
2000-04: finance director, Kingfisher
2004-08: finance director, Lloyds TSB
Present: executive director, UK retail banking, Lloyds TSB

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