Northern Bank

Northern Bank Limited
trading as Danske Bank UK

The Danske Bank logo
Northern Bank headquarters in Belfast, prior to the Danske Bank rebrand
Trading name	Danske Bank UK
Type	Private limited company
Industry	Financial services
Founded	Belfast, Ireland (1824)
Headquarters	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Area served	Northern Ireland and UK (previously also served Republic of Ireland)
Key people	Lars Morch (Chairman) Kevin Kingston (CEO) Shaun McAnee (MD Corporate Banking) Richard Caldwell (MD Personal Banking)
Products	Commercial Banking
Parent	Danske Bank A/S
Website	www.danskebank.co.uk

Danske Bank (formerly Northern Bank) is a commercial bank in Northern Ireland. Northern Bank was one of the oldest banks in Ireland having been formed in 1809, and formed part of one of the Big Four banks in Ireland. Northern Bank took on the name of its parent company Danske Bank as its trading name in November 2012. The bank is considered one of the leading retail banks in Northern Ireland with 46 branches and four finance centres. Danske Bank is one of the four commercial banks in Northern Ireland which are permitted to issue their own banknotes.

Northern Bank was founded in Belfast in 1809 as the Northern Banking Partnership. The bank expanded across Ireland, opening its first branch in the south in 1840.

In 1965, the Northern Banking Company Limited was acquired by the Midland Bank, a London-based bank which had acquired the Belfast Banking Company in 1917. In 1970, the Midland's two Northern Ireland subsidiaries were merged to form Northern Bank Limited. Under Midland's ownership, Northern Bank shared its parent company's branding and the Griffin logo.

In 1986, Midland re-organised its British and Irish operations, and as part of this process it separated its Northern Bank branches in the Republic of Ireland and transferred into a newly formed company called Northern Bank (Ireland) Limited.

Midland Bank ran into severe financial difficulty as a result of its 1981 acquisition of Crocker National Bank in the USA and was forced to divest itself of assets to restore stability. In 1988, Midland sold off its subsidiaries, namely the Clydesdale Bank in Scotland, Northern Bank Limited and Northern Bank (Ireland) Limited, all of which were acquired by National Australia Bank. After this, Northern Bank (Ireland) Limited was renamed National Irish Bank. The Northern Bank brand name continued in Northern Ireland, but a new logo was introduced, a stylised "N" in a hexagon shape. In 2002, the bank's logotype (the word "Northern") was changed to match that of the National Australia Bank.