This is a list of banks operating in the United Kingdom.
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom.
British banking has been highly consolidated since the early 20th century. Unlike some other major economies, the UK does not have a major stratum of independent local banks. The number of independent banks shrank further during 2008: Northern Rock was nationalised by the UK Government (and is now owned by Virgin Money), followed by Bradford & Bingley; Alliance & Leicester was acquired by Santander, who merged it into Santander UK. On 18 September 2008, Lloyds TSB plc entered into a confirmed agreement to take over HBOS plc (HBOS plc included Halifax Bank and The Bank of Scotland), which took effect on 19 January 2009, when HBOS was acquired and folded into Lloyds Banking Group. [1] [2] [3]
The retail and commercial banking markets are dominated by HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and NatWest Group in addition to Spanish-owned Santander UK which some people[ who? ] argue should be apart of the "Big 4" making it the big 5, however its Spanish origins hinder its credibility as a British bank despite its ability to act autonomously and independently from the Spanish bank itself as it is "managed by its own local team and is responsible solely for its performance away from its Spanish owners"[ citation needed ] (most of these companies operate more than one banking brand in the UK). As well as this, the Nationwide Building Society (commonly referred to as "Nationwide"), and Standard Chartered both make compelling arguments to be the fifth and sixth members of the elite group with both banks even surpassing one or two of the "Big 4" Banks in some areas of performance.[ original research? ][ citation needed ] In addition to this the Bank of England is also an extremely high performer in global banking but its private and state-run status keeps it out of the "Big 4" as the group is solely reserved for private companies,[ citation needed ] all of which are listed on the London Stock Exchange as of 2024.
The largest of the "Big 4" banks in every relevant metric is HSBC Holding (the HongKong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) which, despite its name, is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, with historical links to business in East Asia. It is the largest bank in Europe and the 7th largest in the world by total AUM (assets under management) and 9th largest in the world by market cap.[ citation needed ]
| Bank | Headquarters | Market cap ($bn) As of 23 November 2024 [4] | Total AUM ($bn) As of 23 November 2024 [5] | Global rank by total AUM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barclays | London, England | 55,08 | 2,049.77 | 13th |
| HSBC Holdings | London, England | 183,48 | 3,038.80 | 7th |
| Lloyds Banking Group [a] (not including HBOS) | London, England | 49,02 | 1,122.76 | 35th |
| NatWest Group [b] | Edinburgh, Scotland | 47,60 | 925.89 | 42th |
These banks provide retail services to the general public. Retail banks are usually known as High street banks as they traditionally had multiple branch locations in the cities and towns across the UK. However 40% of branches closed between 2012 and 2022 . [8] Four British retail banks have never had a physical branch presence.
The retail and commercial banking markets are dominated by five big banks. HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group and Spanish-owned Santander UK who operate more than one banking brand in the UK.
| Bank | Year Est. | Headquarters | Total assets (£bn) | Staff | Branches in UK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atom Bank | 2013 | Durham, England | 2.8 [9] | 357 [10] | Online only |
| Bank of Ireland UK | 1783 | London, England | 1,700 | ||
| Barclays | 1690 | London, England | 1,477 | 100,000 | 347 |
| HSBC UK | 1865 | London, England | 2,975 | 220,861 | 327 |
| Danske Bank UK | 1824 | Belfast, Northern Ireland | 1400 | 24 | |
| Lloyds Banking Group [a] | 2009 | Edinburgh, Scotland: registered office | 794 | 63,000 | 893 |
| Metro Bank | 2010 | London, England | 22.2 | 3,000 | 76 |
| Monzo | 2015 | London, England | 11.2 [11] | 3,736 | Online only |
| NatWest Group [b] | 1968 | Edinburgh, Scotland | 691.0 | 61,500 | 523 |
| Santander UK | 2010 | London, England | 275.4 | 19,500 | 444 |
| Starling Bank | 2014 | London, England | 14.7 [14] | 3,500 | Online only |
| Tandem Bank | 2015 | London, England | 0.5 [15] | Online only | |
| The Co-operative Bank | 1872 | Manchester, England | 25.5 [16] | 3,350 | 77 |
| TSB Bank | 1810 (reestablished 2013) | Edinburgh, Scotland | 5,426 | 212 | |
| Virgin Money UK | 2015 | Glasgow, Scotland | 91.7 | 7,166 | 91 |
There are a number of other retail banking businesses owned by retailers including:
The other main class of consumer financial service organisation in the United Kingdom is the building society. The building society sector has become much smaller with fewer building societies. This was caused, firstly, a number of building societies demutualising in the 1980s and 1990s and subsequently, taken over by banks. Secondly, there has been ongoing consolidation via mergers between societies.
There are 42 building societies in the UK as of 2021 which provide retail banking services to the general public. The five largest as of October 2020 are:
| Name | Year Est. | Headquarters | Total Assets (£bn) | Employees | Branches |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationwide | 1846 | Swindon, England, UK | 208 [19] | 18,333 | 606 |
| Coventry Building Society | 1884 | Coventry, England, UK | 49 | 2,700 | 89 |
| Yorkshire Building Society (also own Chelsea Building Society, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, Accord Mortgages and Egg) | 1864 | Bradford, West Yorkshire, England | 39.6 | 3,300 | 231 |
| Skipton Building Society | 1853 | Skipton, England | 17.5 | 1,772 | 98 |
| Leeds Building Society | 1875 | Leeds, England | 20.8 | 1,426 | 65 |
A full list of businesses considered banks by the Prudential Regulation Authority are listed in the table below. The list is based on the definition of 'bank' in the glossary of the PRA Handbook. [20]
There is also a government-run savings bank called National Savings and Investments.
The Bank of Scotland plc is a commercial and clearing bank based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group. The bank was established by the Parliament of Scotland in 1695 to develop Scotland's trade with other countries, and aimed to create a stable banking system in the United kingdom. The bank is the ninth oldest bank in continuous operation.
Halifax is a British banking brand operating as a trading division of Bank of Scotland, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group.
NatWest Group PLC is a British banking and insurance holding company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The Abbey National Building Society was formed in 1944 by the merger of the Abbey Road and the National building societies.
Lloyds Bank plc is a major British retail and commercial bank with a significant presence across England and Wales. It has traditionally been regarded one of the "Big Four" clearing banks.
The Trustee Savings Bank (TSB) was a British financial institution that operated between 1810 and 1995 when it was merged with Lloyds Bank. 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 the 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.
Tesco Personal Finance plc, trading as Tesco Bank, is a British retail bank which was formed in July 1997. The bank was formed as part of a 50:50 joint venture between The Royal Bank of Scotland and Tesco, the largest supermarket in the United Kingdom, employing 2,800 people.
The Big Four is the colloquial name given to the four main banks in several countries where the banking industry is dominated by just four institutions and where the phrase has thus gained relevance. Some countries include more or fewer institutions in such rankings, leading to other names such as Big Three, Big Five, or Big Six.
The HBOS Group Reorganisation Act 2006 is a local act of Parliament, passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in June 2006. The aim of the act was to provide HBOS plc, a banking and insurance group in the UK, the legal authority to reorganise its subsidiaries into a simplified structure. It came into effect on 17 September 2007.
The Royal Bank of Scotland plc is a major retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest and Ulster Bank. The Royal Bank of Scotland has around 700 branches, mainly in Scotland, though there are branches in many larger towns and cities throughout England and Wales. The bank is completely separate from the fellow Edinburgh-based bank, the Bank of Scotland, which pre-dates the Royal Bank by 32 years. The Royal Bank of Scotland was established to provide a bank with strong Hanoverian and Whig ties.
Monilink Limited was the banking service operating in the United Kingdom that gave customers access to their financial information directly from their mobile phones. Created in 2003 Monilink was a joint venture between Monitise and LINK. Promotional material promised consumers that, through the service: “The future of banking is in your hands”.
Williams & Glyn's Bank Limited was established in London in 1970, when the Royal Bank of Scotland merged its two subsidiaries in England and Wales, Williams Deacon's Bank Ltd. and Glyn, Mills & Co. In 1985, Williams & Glyn's was fully absorbed into the Royal Bank of Scotland and ceased to trade separately.
HBOS plc is a banking and insurance company in the United Kingdom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lloyds Banking Group, having been taken over in January 2009. It was the holding company for Bank of Scotland plc, which operated the Bank of Scotland and Halifax brands in the UK, as well as HBOS Australia and HBOS Insurance & Investment Group Limited, the group's insurance division.
In the period September 2007 to December 2009, during the Global Financial Crisis, the UK government intervened financially to support the UK banking sector, and four UK banks in particular.
Lloyds Banking Group plc is a British financial institution formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. It is one of the UK's largest financial services organisations, with 30 million customers and 65,000 employees. Lloyds Bank was founded in 1765 but the wider Group's heritage extends over 320 years, dating back to the founding of the Bank of Scotland by the Parliament of Scotland in 1695.
Santander UK plc is a British bank, wholly owned by Banco Santander, a Spanish bank. Santander UK plc manages its affairs autonomously, with its own local management team, responsible solely for its performance.
TSB Bank plc is a British retail and commercial bank based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has been a subsidiary of Sabadell Group since 2015.
Paym was a mobile payment system provided by banks and building societies in the United Kingdom. Recipients were identified by their mobile phone number instead of bank details such as sort code and account number.
Sabadell Solbank was a Spanish bank owned by Banco de Sabadell, which focussed on retail banking for Europeans living in the coastal areas of southern Spain. In 2014, it was fully integrated into the parent company.
