Westminster Bank
 |
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| Industry | Banking |
|---|---|
| Fate | Merger with National Provincial |
| Successor | National Westminster Bank |
| Founded | 1834 |
| Defunct | 1970 |
| Headquarters | 41 Lothbury, London EC2 |
| Subsidiaries | Ulster Bank Limited |
Westminster Bank was a British retail bank which operated in England and Wales from 1834 until its merger into the National Westminster Bank in 1970; it continues to exist as a dormant registered non-trading company. Considered one of the Big Five, it expanded during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and took over a number of smaller banking companies.
In 1834, the London and Westminster Bank was the first firm founded under the auspices of the Bank Charter Act 1833, which allowed banks to be established in the capital. 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.
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 banks like Lloyds and Midland. These two banks had already established large regional branch networks and were quickly encroaching upon the London market. In order to meet this challenge, in 1909, London and Westminster merged with the influential and prestigious London and County Bank, which had seventy offices citywide and almost two hundred in rural counties.
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. The resulting entity was named the London County and Westminster Bank. Prior to the merger, London and County had already taken over the business of the following banks:
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