Mr Hornby admitted jobs may be lost in the merger but insisted most people would be able to stay within the enlarged group.

He said changes brought about by integration could take two years.

Lloyds TSB announced last week it had agreed a £12.2bn takeover after shares in HBOS - which has 6,500 staff in Calderdale - plummeted.

HBOS, formed from a merger of the Halifax and the Bank of Scotland seven years ago, has around 66,000 workers across the UK.

In his email, Mr Hornby said that he had been in talks with Eric Daniels, the chief executive of Lloyds TSB, for some time.

"We have always recognised the benefits of combining these two businesses with their fantastic collection of brands.

"Those talks really accelerated, however, after the momentous developments in the last few days as the world has experienced literally unprecedented turmoil in financial markets.

"We agreed to be purchased by Lloyds TSB because it is the right thing to do."

He said that HBOS was an "exceptionally well capitalised and profitable bank" but share price movements were causing "too much uncertainty".

Lloyds TSB has dismissed claims that up to 40,000 posts could be lost in the UK but has refused to rule out compulsory redundancies.