An offshore bank is a bank that is operated and regulated under international banking license, which usually prohibits the bank from establishing any business activities in the jurisdiction of establishment. Due to less regulation and transparency, accounts with offshore banks were often used to hide undeclared income. Since the 1980s, jurisdictions that provide financial services to nonresidents on a big scale can be referred to as offshore financial centres. OFCs often also levy little or no corporation tax and/or personal income and high direct taxes such as duty, making the cost of living high.
Nationwide Building Society is a British mutual financial institution, the seventh largest cooperative financial institution and the largest building society in the world with over 16 million members. Its headquarters are in Swindon, England.
The Abbey National Building Society was formed in 1944 by the merger of the Abbey Road and the National building societies.
Alliance & Leicester plc was a British bank and former building society, formed by the merger in 1985 of the Alliance Building Society and the Leicester Building Society. The business demutualised in the middle of 1997, when it was floated on the London Stock Exchange. It was listed in the FTSE 250 Index, and had been listed in the FTSE 100 Index from April 1997 until June 2008.
The Trustee Savings Bank (TSB) was a British financial institution. Trustee savings banks originated to accept savings deposits from those with moderate means. Their shares were not traded on the stock market but, unlike mutually held building societies, depositors had no voting rights; nor did they have the power to direct the financial and managerial goals of the organisation. Directors were appointed as trustees on a voluntary basis. The first trustee savings bank was established by Rev. Henry Duncan of Ruthwell in Dumfriesshire for his poorest parishioners in 1810, with its sole purpose being to serve the local people in the community. Between 1970 and 1985, the various trustee savings banks in the United Kingdom were amalgamated into a single institution named TSB Group plc, which was floated on the London Stock Exchange. In 1995, the TSB merged with Lloyds Bank to form Lloyds TSB, at that point the largest bank in the UK by market share and the second-largest by market capitalisation.
Kaupthing Bank was a major international Icelandic bank, headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland. It was taken over by the Icelandic government during the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis and the domestic Icelandic based operations were spun into a new bank New Kaupthing, which was subsequently renamed Arion Banki. All the non-Icelandic assets and debts remained with the now defunct Kaupthing Bank. Prior to its collapse it also allegedly loaned money to various parties with the purpose of buying Kaupthing shares.
Bradford & Bingley plc was a British bank with headquarters in the West Yorkshire town of Bingley.
National Girobank was a British public sector financial institution run by the General Post Office that opened for business in October 1968. It started life as National Giro then National Girobank and finally Girobank plc before being absorbed into Alliance & Leicester plc in 2003.
Banco Santander, S.A., doing business as Santander Group, is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Santander in Spain. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in all global financial centres as the 19th-largest banking institution in the world. Although known for its European banking operations, it has extended operations across North and South America, and more recently in continental Asia. It is considered a systemically important bank by the Financial Stability Board.
Advance is a certified, independent trade union affiliated to the TUC representing workers within the bank Santander UK, the UK subsidiary of Santander Group. The union was formerly known as the Abbey National Group Union (ANGU) before it expanded to include staff of Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley following their acquisitions by Santander. Its aims are the supporting and representing its members in all aspects of their employment.
The Royal Bank of Scotland International, trading under the NatWest International (retail), RBS International (institutional), Coutts Crown Dependencies and Isle of Man Bank brands, is the offshore banking arm of NatWest Group. It provides a range of services to personal, business, commercial, corporate and financial intermediary customers from its base in St. Helier, Jersey.
The Swansea Building Society,, is an independent mutual building society based in Swansea, Wales. It is a member of the Building Societies Association.
Bradford & Bingley International (BBI) was the international banking subsidiary of Bradford & Bingley, which was itself acquired by the Santander Group in 2008.
National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it became part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, which was re-named NatWest Group in 2020. Following ringfencing of the group's core domestic business, the bank became a direct subsidiary of NatWest Holdings; NatWest Markets comprises the non-ringfenced investment banking arm. The British government currently owns 39%, previously 54.7% of NatWest Group after spending £45 billion bailing out the lender in 2008. NatWest International is a trading name of RBS International, which also sits outside the ringfence.
Santander UK plc is a British bank, wholly owned by the Spanish Santander Group. Santander UK plc manages its affairs autonomously, with its own local management team, responsible solely for its performance.
Hendon Building Society was a UK building society, which was taken over by the Bradford & Bingley Building Society in 1991. Hendon Building Society was founded in 1938 as a mutual organization, which means that it was owned by its members rather than by shareholders. The society offered a range of financial products and services, including mortgages, savings accounts, and insurance, to customers in the local area. It has branches in London and the surrounding areas. Bradford & Bingley fell victim to the financial crisis of 2007–2010 and is now part of Santander UK, while its mortgage book is owned by UK Financial Investments Limited.
Lloyds Bank International is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets in the United Kingdom, which is in turn part of Lloyds Banking Group, one of the largest banking groups in Europe.
Richard Lee Banks is a British banker who is Chief Executive of UK Asset Resolution, the state-owned "bad bank" that was formed from Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley, when those banks failed in 2008. In 2014, an opinion piece in the Evening Standard asked if he was "Britain's best banker", as he had successfully reduced the assets of UK Asset Resolution by 40 percent and repaid £4bn to the British government.
