Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
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| Public limited company | |
| Industry | Finance and Insurance |
| Founded |
Bank of Scotland 17 July 1695 Bank of Scotland plc 17 September 2007 |
| Headquarters | The Mound, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom |
| Products | Financial services |
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Number of employees
|
20,000 |
| Parent | Lloyds Banking Group |
| Divisions |
Halifax Birmingham Midshires Intelligent Finance Clerical Medical |
| Website | www |
The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: Banca na h-Alba) is a commercial and clearing bank based in Edinburgh, Scotland. With a history dating to the 17th century, it is the fifth-oldest surviving bank in the United Kingdom (the Bank of England having been established one year before), and is the only commercial institution created by the Parliament of Scotland to remain in existence. It was one of the first banks in Europe to print its own banknotes and it continues to print its own sterling banknotes under legal arrangements which allow Scottish banks to issue currency.
In June 2006, the HBOS Group Reorganisation Act 2006 was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, allowing the bank's structure to be simplified. As a result, The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland became Bank of Scotland plc on 17 September 2007.
Bank of Scotland has been a subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group since 19 January 2009, when HBOS was acquired by Lloyds TSB.
The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland was established by an Act of the Parliament of Scotland on 17 July 1695, the Act for erecting a Bank in Scotland, opening for business in February 1696. Although established soon after the Bank of England (1694), the Bank of Scotland was a very different institution. Where the Bank of England was established specifically to finance defence spending by the English government, the Bank of Scotland was established by the Scottish government to support Scottish business, and was prohibited from lending to the government without parliamentary approval. The founding Act granted the bank a monopoly on public banking in Scotland for 21 years, permitted the bank's directors to raise a nominal capital of £1,200,000 pound Scots (£100,000 pound sterling), gave the proprietors (shareholders) limited liability, and in the final clause (repealed only in 1920) made all foreign-born proprietors naturalised Scotsmen "to all Intents and Purposes whatsoever".John Holland, an Englishman, was one of the bank's founders. Its first chief accountant was George Watson.
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