The pressure on retail banks to attract deposits in order to fund lending growth became all too apparent this month in the UK.

Despite memories of the financial crisis softening somewhat, in Britain, Halifax Bank – part of the embattled HBOS group – has resorted to literally giving money away in the hope of attracting it back in spades.

Halifax is aiming to entice funds into the group by offering £5 cash to customers who deposit £1,000 or more into their Reward Current Account in any given month.

The irony is almost palpable.

Halifax, and in turn HBOS, is part UK Government-owned and the cash back offer delivers a 0.5% return to those who make an exact £1000 placement – the same as the current cash rate of the Bank of England.

The Government gave HBOS money as part of the major bailout of the group, and now Halifax (HBOS) is giving it to customers in a kind of desperate Robin Hood gesture.

Meanwhile the enticements don’t stop there. Customers in the group’s Ultimate Reward Current Account don’t just get a fiver stuffed in their hands each month; there are a series of other carrots dangled before them.

These include worldwide multi-trip travel insurance, the first £300 of any arranged overdraft fee-free and RAC breakdown cover.

And they say banks are greedy…

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