They are the three Bs: brand, buildings and brains.
The HBOS brand contains well known names, market leaders in their own right. Insurance services such as Sheila's Wheels and E-sure come under the HBOS banner.
So do Halifax Property Services, which commands a major part of the High Street property market and HBOS finance backs services for leading High Street names such as Sainsbury's.
Calderdale is home to two purpose-built building at Trinity Road in Halifax and the Halifax Data Centre in Copley, which houses the 6,500 strong workforce with a vast wealth of skills and experi-ence. Skills such as IT, financial and property expertise and customer service skills all contributing a massive amount to the area's economy
Calderdale Council deputy leader Stephen Baines agrees these are all things the new bank needs to take into account.
"HBOS is the UK's largest mortgage provider with its mortgage headquarters based here in Calderdale. The newly formed bank needs to take into account the level of mortgage expertise that already exists here in Halifax if it is to achieve its ambition.
"There are also strong economic reasons for keeping staff based in Halifax.
"Property is cheaper to run and maintain than in other parts of the country and in Copley there is a well established IT centre which would be extremely costly to move elsewhere."
Councillor Baines said the council will do what it can to retain local jobs and is already working with other regional agencies.
"There has been no formal decision yet on HBOS brands but it seems unthinkable to me that the newly formed bank would not keep the Halifax brand – Halifax is one of the most established names in retail banking.
"The bank has a long history with the town and the town has in turn grown with the bank."
Steven Leigh, policy head of the Mid Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that made sound business sense to stay in Calderdale.
HBOS with the Halifax was by far the biggest mortgage provider, while Lloyds TSB had a much smaller market share with Cheltenham and Gloucester.
"Halifax is a fantastic brand known worldwide so why move away from that fantastic brand?
"We are geared up with the administration, it is a beautiful place to live and work, and it is cheaper for property and rents."
Mr Leigh said banking chiefs had a huge workload ahead as they rationalised the two banks and that gave added reason to concentrate mortgages especially in Halifax.
"If 80 per cent of the mortgage work is in Halifax the decision makers might think `why do we not scale down Cheltenham` and that would be a very attractive solution," said Mr Leigh.
"Halifax would have the capacity to take on that extra 20 per cent."
Linda Riordan was also of the view the mortgage business was the district's most powerful argument.
"We have the facilities in Halifax and Copley which they do not have at Lloyds TSB," she said.
"We are a town not a big city and we need those jobs. There is no alternative."
Ged Nichols, general secretary of HBOS union Accord, wants a commitment to jobs in West Yorkshire and said Halifax had a strong case.
"That is where the Halifax is based and there is 150 years of history, the local economy depends on those jobs, and we will oppose any compulsory redundancies," he said.
Cheltenham & Gloucester employs 1,360 staff in Gloucestershire and 2,567 nationally.
HBOS employs around 66,000 with 17,500 in Scotland and 14,000 in Yorkshire, including 6,500 in Halifax at Trinity Road and Copley.
Lloyds TSB employs nearly 70,000 and although UK based it has a large staff overseas. Regionally it employs 8,900 in London, 11,500 in the midlands, 4,000 in the north east, 5,000 in the north west, 9,000 in Scotland and 11,400 in the south east, 6,400 in the south west and 6,300 in Wales.