Type | Joint-stock |
---|---|
Industry | Banking |
Founded | 10 March 1834 |
Defunct | 1 January 1970 |
Fate | Merger with National Provincial Bank |
Successor | National Westminster Bank |
Headquarters | 41 Lothbury, London EC2 |
Subsidiaries | Ulster Bank Limited |
Westminster Bank was a British retail bank which operated in England and Wales. It was created in 1834 as the London and Westminster Bank. It merged with the London and County Bank in 1909, after which it renamed itself the London County and Westminster Bank, [1] then acquired the former business of Birkbeck Bank in 1911, Ulster Bank in 1917, and Parr's Bank in 1918, following which it changed its name again to London County Westminster and Parrs. It shortened its name to Westminster Bank in 1923.
Following that transformative sequence of acquisitions, Westminster Bank was the fifth-largest bank in England, thus one of the so-called Big Five together with Barclays, Lloyds Bank, Midland Bank, and National Provincial Bank. In 1968 it announced its merger with National Provincial to form the National Westminster Bank, which was completed on 1 January 1970.
In 1834, the London and Westminster Bank was the first firm founded under the auspices of the Bank Charter Act 1833, which allowed joint-stock banks to be established in the capital. [2] For various reasons, the press, private banking concerns, and the Bank of England were so hostile to the Bank Charter Act that London and Westminster's management was primarily concerned with defending the company's right to exist rather than setting up an extensive branch network. As a result, the bank opened only six London branches in its first three years and no additional offices were established until nearly 20 years later. [3]
London and Westminster made its first acquisition in 1847, when it bought Young & Son. In about 1870 it acquired Unity Joint-Stock Bank, and mergers with Commercial Bank of London and Middlesex Bank had been arranged in 1861 and 1863 respectively. By 1909 London and Westminster had opened or acquired 37 branches in and around London. Yet, despite this expansion effort, the bank felt the effects of competition from provincial peers like Lloyds Bank and Midland Bank. These two banks had already established large regional branch networks and were quickly encroaching upon the London market.
The Surrey, Kent and Sussex Banking Company had been established at Southwark in 1836 and soon had branches in places like Croydon, Brighton, Maidstone and Woolwich. It was renamed the London and County Banking Co. in 1839. By 1875 it had over 150 branches and was the largest British bank. London and County took over the business of the following banks:
Date | Acquisition | Established |
---|---|---|
1839 | Jeffreys & Hill, Chatham | 1811 |
1841 | Hopkins, Drewett & Co., Arundel | 1827 |
1841 | Hector, Lacy & Co., Petersfield | 1808 |
1841 | Ridge & Co., Chichester | c.1783 |
1841 | Halford, Baldock & Co., Canterbury | c.1790 |
1841 | Emmerson, Hodgson & Emmerson, Sandwich | c.1800 |
1842 | Davenport, Walker & Co., Oxford | 1838 |
1843 | Wilmshurst & Co., Cranbrook | 1822 |
1844 | T. & T. S. Chapman, Aylesbury | 1837 |
1845 | J. Stoveld & Co., Petworth | 1806 |
1849 | Trapp, Halfhead & Co., Bedford | 1829 |
1851 | Berkshire Union Banking Co., Newbury | 1841 |
1853 | Eddy & Squire, Berkhamsted | 1851 |
1859 | Western Bank of London | 1856 |
1860 | Robert Davies & Co., Shoreditch | 1841 |
1870 | Nunn & Co., Manningtree | 1810 |
1888 | Vallance & Payne, Sittingbourne | 1800 |
1891 | Hove Banking Co. Ltd. | 1876 |
1907 | Frederick Burt & Co., Cornhill (foreign bankers) | 1872 |
In 1909, London and Westminster Bank merged with London and County Bank, which by then had seventy offices citywide and almost two hundred in rural counties.
Birkbeck Building and Freehold Land Society, formed in 1851, developed a large deposit-taking business that developed into banking activity. [4] Cheque books were issued from 1858, and by 1872 the business was trading under the title of Birkbeck Bank. In 1910, when its balance sheet totalled £12.26 million and it had 112,817 accounts, the bank suffered a run. Continuing rumours about its financial position, and a climate of depreciation in gilt-edged securities, led to a suspension of payments. The Bank of England provided support for the immediate payment of 10 shillings in the pound to depositors, but as most of its deposits were held as long-term securities the bank lacked liquidity and went into receivership. [5] In 1911, its goodwill and premises were purchased from the receiver by London County and Westminster Bank. [6] [7]
In 1913, the bank formed a subsidiary, London County and Westminster Bank (Paris), which opened branches during and after World War I in Bordeaux (1917), Lyon (1918), Marseilles (1918) and Nantes (1919). The bank itself also directly established offices in Madrid (1917), Barcelona (1917), Antwerp (1919), Brussels (1919), Bilbao (1919) and Valencia (1920). These operations were converted into a foreign bank in 1920 and renamed London County Westminster and Parrs Foreign Bank, becoming Westminster Foreign Bank in 1923 and finally International Westminster Bank in 1973. All the Spanish branches were closed in 1923–24, due to deteriorating economic conditions in Spain and discrimination against foreign banks. Control of the remaining branches was exercised from London, although between 1940 and 1944 contact with them was lost due to the German occupation. [9]
In 1917, bank officials decided to acquire the Ulster Bank (which continued to operate separately), with 170 branches throughout Ireland, [10] and in 1918 bought Parr's Bank, with over 320 offices throughout England. [11] The Parr's name survives in the Bloomsbury, Parr's Branch of National Westminster Bank at 214 High Holborn, London.
During the economic difficulties of the late 1920s and early 1930s, the bank kept tight centralised control over the continental branch of the business to avoid the dangers of too rapid an expansion in unfamiliar markets, but this policy stunted Westminster's international operations. It did mean that the bank escaped the bad debts and currency fluctuations that plagued many other banks between the world wars, allowing the domestic side of the business to grow steadily. The bank continued to expand through acquisition, namely:
Date | Acquisition | Established |
---|---|---|
1919 | Nottingham & Nottinghamshire Banking Co. Ltd. | 1834 |
1921 | Beckett & Co., Leeds and York | 1774 |
1923 | Stilwell & Sons, London | 1774 |
1924 | Guernsey Commercial Banking Co. Ltd. | 1835 |
Paid-up capital rose from £9 million in 1923 to £40.5 million in 1935. By 1939 there were 1,100 branches and at the time of the merger with National Provincial Bank in 1968, Westminster had 1,400 branches in England alone. [12]
The merger of Westminster and National Provincial Bank, announced in early 1968, shocked the British public and banking community. Although the Bank of England had indicated a willingness to allow mergers as part of a rationalisation process, no one had seriously believed it would permit mergers among the largest and most influential banks.
The District Bank (a 1962 National Provincial acquisition), National Provincial and Westminster Bank were fully integrated in the new firm's structure, while Coutts & Co. (a 1920 National Provincial acquisition), Ulster Bank and the Isle of Man Bank (a 1961 National Provincial acquisition) continued as separate operations. Duncan Stirling, chairman of Westminster Bank, became first chairman of the fifth-largest bank in the world. The statutory process of integration was completed in 1969 and the new company, National Westminster Bank, opened its doors for business on 1 January 1970. [13]
The Westminster Bank continued to exist as a dormant registered non-trading company until 4 July 2017 when it was dissolved. [14]
The portcullis used by the bank was one of the familiar badges of King Henry VII and derived from the arms of the royal City of Westminster, which also included the fess wavy, signifying the River Thames, derived from the arms of the County of London. [15] The present National Westminster Bank continues to use the portcullis in its common seal (the official seal kept in accordance with section 40 of the Companies Act). [16]
NatWest Group plc is a British banking and insurance holding company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The group operates a wide variety of banking brands offering personal and business banking, private banking, investment banking, insurance and corporate finance. In the United Kingdom, its main subsidiary companies are National Westminster Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest Markets and Coutts. The group issues banknotes in Scotland and Northern Ireland; as of 2014, the Royal Bank of Scotland was the only bank in the UK to continue to print £1 notes.
Ulster Bank is a large retail bank, and one of the traditional Big Four Irish clearing banks. The Ulster Bank Group was subdivided into two separate legal entities: National Westminster Bank Plc, trading as Ulster Bank ; and, until April 2023, Ulster Bank Ireland DAC. Prior to the closure of Ulster Bank in the Republic of Ireland in April 2023, the headquarters of Ulster Bank in the Republic of Ireland were located on George's Quay, Dublin, whilst the headquarters of Ulster Bank Northern Ireland are in Donegall Square East, Belfast, and it maintains a large sector of the financial services in both the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
TD Banknorth, formerly Banknorth, was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Toronto-Dominion Bank which conducted banking and insurance activities, primarily serving the northeastern area of the United States, headquartered in Portland, Maine. The bank became TD Bank, N.A. on May 31, 2008.
National Provincial Bank was a retail bank which operated in England and Wales. It was created in 1833 as National Provincial Bank of England, and expanded largely by taking over a number of other banks. Following the transformative acquisition of Union Bank of London in 1918, it changed its name to National Provincial and Union Bank of England, then in 1924 shortened its name again to National Provincial Bank. It further acquired Coutts Bank in 1920, Grindlays Bank in 1924, Isle of Man Bank in 1961, District Bank in 1962, thus becoming one of the "Big Five" that dominated the UK banking sector for much of the 20th century, together with Barclays Bank, Lloyds Bank, Midland Bank and Westminster Bank. On 1 January 1970, it completed its merged with Westminster Bank to form National Westminster Bank.
Lombard North Central, trading as Lombard, is a finance company specialising in asset based lending. It is one of the largest finance houses in the United Kingdom and part of the ring-fenced business of NatWest Group. The company started life hiring out rolling stock to the railways in 1861.
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.
Messrs Drummond is a formerly independent private bank in the United Kingdom that is now part of NatWest Group. The Royal Bank of Scotland incorporating Messrs Drummond, Bankers is based at 49 Charing Cross in central London. Drummonds is authorised as a brand of The Royal Bank of Scotland by the Prudential Regulation Authority.
The Isle of Man Bank is a bank in the British Crown dependency of the Isle of Man, providing retail, private and business banking services to the local population. Incorporated in 1865, it has operated as a trading name of RBS International since 2019. It is licensed by the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority in respect of deposit taking and investment business and registered as a general insurance intermediary.
The Manchester and Liverpool District Bank was formed in 1829 and it became one of the leading provincial joint stock banks; its name was shortened to District Bank in 1924. The Bank was acquired by the National Provincial Bank in 1962 but kept its identity until the latter’s merger with Westminster Bank.
Parr's Bank Limited was a bank that existed from 1782 to 1918. It was founded as Parr & Co. in Warrington, then in the county of Lancashire in the United Kingdom. In 1918 it was acquired by London County and Westminster Bank, and it was thus one of the predecessors of NatWest Group.
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.
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% of NatWest Group after spending £45 billion bailing out the lender in 2008; the proportion at one point was 54.7%. NatWest International is a trading name of RBS International, which also sits outside the ringfence.
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Lloyds and National Provincial Foreign Bank Limited was a joint venture in France between London-based Lloyds Bank and National Provincial Bank, which existed from 1917 to 1955.
National Westminster Bank USA, commonly known as NatWest USA, was a wholly owned subsidiary of National Westminster Bank in the United Kingdom from 1983 to 1996. Formed as the National Bank of North America in 1905, the U.S. retail banking operation was sold to Fleet Financial Group in 1996.
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Fuller, Banbury, Nix & Co was a British private bank based in the City of London. It was founded in 1737 in Lombard Street, London and operated under a succession of names reflecting its different partners until receiving its final name in 1881. One of the bank's partners, John Hennings Nix, was the second great-grandfather of Alexander Nix. The bank had a seat on the London Bankers' Clearing House. In 1891 the bank was acquired by Parr's Banking Co Ltd of Warrington, thus facilitating the bank's expansion into London. Through merger with London County & Westminster Bank in 1918, it became a constituent part of the modern NatWest.
Media related to Westminster Bank at Wikimedia Commons