CYB intends to rebrand all its businesses to Virgin Money, effectively making it the UK's new VM," said Morgans. "We view this is a stronger brand than any of the brands currently in CYB's stable." The upgraded shouldn't come as a surprise as I had flagged this outcome several weeks ago and there's more upside from the merger than just branding. The combined balance sheet of the two challenger brands in the UK will allay worries about the impact of further payment protection insurance (PPI) compensation claims against Clydesdale Bank. These concerns have been one of the factors dragging on the bank's share price recently. The £120 million in cost synergies should also translate to around a 13% increase to Clydesdale Bank's earnings per share (EPS) too. This is on top of other operational synergies such as changes to the funding mix from encouraging Virgin Money's customers to open a transaction account.