 The most important was the Bank of Scotland Act 1920, which set out the bank's business objectives and its regulations.HBOS Group wished to restructure the bank into a public limited company (plc) governed under the Companies Act 1985, and transfer the assets and liabilities of its other UK subsidiaries with a banking licence (Capital Bank, Halifax plc and HBOS Treasury Service plc) to the new Bank of Scotland plc.By doing it could save the costs of maintaining four banking licences, and the need for four separate companies, each with their own board of directors.