Midland Bank
The listening bank
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| Public limited company | |
| Industry | Financial services |
| Fate | Acquired by HSBC Holdings |
| Successor | HSBC Bank Plc |
| Founded | Birmingham in 1836 |
| Defunct | 1999 |
| Headquarters | 27 Poultry, London, EC2 |
| Products | Banking and insurance |
| Parent | HSBC Holdings plc |
| Website | www |
Midland Bank Plc was one of the Big Four banking groups in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century. It is now part of HSBC. The bank was founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Union Street, Birmingham, England in August 1836. It expanded in the Midlands, absorbing many local banks, and merged with the Central Bank of London Ltd. in 1891, becoming the London City and Midland Bank.
After a period of nationwide expansion, including the acquisition of many smaller banks, the name Midland Bank Ltd was adopted in 1923. By 1934 it was the largest deposit bank in the world. It was listed on the and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but in 1992 it was taken over by HSBC Holdings plc, who phased out the Midland Bank name in 1999 in favour of HSBC Bank.
On 10 June 2015, HSBC announced that it would be rebranding its UK branches. HSBC chairman Douglas Flint described the Midland brand as "odds-on favourite" for a return to the high street. In September 2015, it was announced that the Midland Bank name would not be revived and the UK branch network would be branded "HSBC UK".
Midland Bank was founded by Charles Geach, its first manager in Union Street, Birmingham, England, in August 1836. Geach had formerly worked at the Bank of England; he secured the business support and capital backing of leading merchants and manufacturers in Birmingham.
In the 1830s and 1840s, Midland occupied an important niche in Birmingham business, particularly in the discounting of bills of exchange for its customers. Links with local industrial and commercial concerns were especially strong and, by the 1850s, the bank’s customers included railways, iron founders and engineering concerns, utilities and municipal corporations.
Midland acquired Stourbridge Old Bank in 1851 and Nichols, Baker and Crane of Bewdley in 1862. Both firms had been pioneers of banking in the West Midlands: the origins of the Stourbridge bank can be traced back to 1762 and the Bewdley bank dated from 1777.
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Wikipedia