Bank of Scotland history

articles of sale of capital stock 1802-3

The first Savings Bank was founded in Ruthwell in Dumfries-shire in 1810 by the Rev.

Henry Dundas was Governor of the Bank of Scotland from 1790 to 1811.

Scottish Widows' Fund and Life Assurance Society was established on 29th July 1814.

In 1821, the bank moved from its original head office in Edinburgh’s Old Town to Dundas House, on St Andrew Square in the New Town.

Scotland's banks proved their growing power and influence in 1826 when they were threatened by the government's proposal to limit the number of notes in circulation by allowing only the Bank of England to issue banknotes with a value of under £5, requiring other banks to use gold or silver.

Founded in 1830, this bank had itself been active in acquiring other financial institutions, so that, with the merger, the Bank of Scotland gained an additional 200 branches.

Founded in 1852, the Halifax is one of the UK's best known companies.

In 1853, Bank of Scotland became one of the first Scottish banks to use the new electric telegraph service.

list of agents’ bonds outstanding 1861

By the latter half of the nineteenth century the bank was ready to move beyond Scotland's borders; it established its first English office in the City of London in 1865.

Bank of Scotland opened its first permanent office in London in 1867.

In 1868 the Bank of Scotland acquired the Perth-based Central Bank of Scotland, the first of a series of acquisitions and amalgamations designed to consolidate and further its position in Scottish banking.

branch establishment book 1869-74

The first London branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland opened in 1874.

Expansion remained severely limited, however; the Bank of Scotland's plans to move into England were thwarted by the 1875 Bank Act, which forbade the establishment of Scottish bank branches in England and vice versa.

legal opinion re liability of the bank’s directors 1878-9

programme anniversary dinner for Thomas Bell 1895

In 1907 it acquired the Caledonian Bank, ensuring that it began the twentieth century in a very strong position.

Over the next 30 years the English banks, by processes of merger, acquisition and takeover, and also by extensive branch opening policies, consolidated their position and there emerged the 'Big Five". By 1913, the Midland Bank was the largest bank in the world.

During the First World War the volume of banking business grew, prompting a series of major amalgamations after 1918, including moves to affiliate certain Scottish and English banks.

notes re history of London office 1926

general manager’s and other senior officers’ correspondence 1929-57

report on air raid shelters, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow branch c.1939

branch profit and loss statements 1943-66

papers re the establishment and operation of Industrial & Commercial Finance Corporation Ltd 1944-52

profit and loss statements 1946-67

widows’ fund general meeting and actuarial reports 1947-67

The 1951 Bank of Scotland Act freed the bank from the old system under which it could raise capital only through an act of Parliament, allowing it to operate freely in the commercial market.

Bank of Scotland began this phase of its development by merging with the Glasgow-based Union Bank of Scotland in 1955.

In 1959, the Bank of Scotland became the first bank in the UK to install a computer to process accounts centrally.

From 1960 to present expandable section

1963: Going mobile In April 1963, Bank of Scotland launched its first fleet of mobile banks.

minute book of the managers’ association (formerly National Commercial Bank of Scotland managers’ association) 1966-9

Royal Bank of Scotland Group was founded on March 25, 1968 and is headquartered in Edinburgh, the United Kingdom.“

In 1969, the bank merged with the National Commercial Bank of Scotland to become the largest clearing bank in Scotland.

In 1971 the long-standing cartel agreement that had prevented Scottish banks from penetrating into English markets lapsed, but the Bank of Scotland, unlike its old arch-rival the Royal Bank of Scotland, made the decision not to establish a branch network in England.

In 1975, Bank of Scotland opened its first overseas office in Houston, Texas.

minutes of the directors’ general purposes committee 1976-8

papers re the acquisition of Annan Savings Bank 1984-5

In 1985, following abortive takeover attempts by Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and Standard Chartered Bank, the businesses of the Royal Bank of Scotland Ltd and Williams & Glyn's Bank were merged fully so that all branches became part of the Royal Bank of Scotland plc.

In 1986 the bank pioneered the first major credit card to be processed in Scotland.

The service was expanded the following year to include businesses, creating HOBS (Home and Office Banking Service). In 1987 the bank introduced TAPS (Transcontinental Automated Payment Service), which provides electronic links to worldwide banking systems.

Three years later the bank acquired North West Securities (which became NWS BANK plc in 1989), a hire purchase finance house, through which it acquired the Industrial Bank of Scotland.

In 1993 the Bank of Scotland was the first Scottish bank to introduce banking by telephone services, and also became the first British Visa member to offer customers the opportunity to make international telephone calls using their credit card.

For the future, the Bank of Scotland planned a course of primarily internal growth, though it had not ruled out the option of further acquisitions--indeed, in 1994 there was much speculation that the bank would acquire a building society.

In 1999 664 offices (excluding overseas branches) were operating.

The Royal was the eventual winner and absorbed NatWest in 2000.

In 2001, Bank of Scotland merged with the Halifax bank to form HBOS plc.

In 2006, HBOS secured the passing of the HBOS Group Reorganisation Act 2006, a private Act of Parliament that would allow the group to operate within a simplified structure.

Following the implosion of the Bank of Scotland in 2008, HBOS Group agreed to be taken over by Lloyds TSB Group.

On 19th January 2009, HBOS plc was acquired by Lloyds TSB and the new entity was named Lloyds Banking Group plc.

Hester was replaced as CEO by New Zealander Ross McEwan, formerly the head of the bank’s retail arm, on 1 October 2013.

2016: Polymer £5 note issue The new £5 polymer note launched in October 2016.

Under the arrangements for this merger, a new holding company called National & Commercial Banking Group (later the Royal Bank of Scotland Group and, from 2020, NatWest Group),was created to own the Royal Bank of Scotland and its other constituents.