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An Old Name Returns to Banking

or: What Daniel O’Connell has to do with the 2008 Banking Crisis

Daniel O’Connell was a remarkable man by any stretch of the imagination, and is most often recalled for his part in bringing about the Relief Act of 1829 which emancipated the Catholics of Great Britain and Ireland from an officially oppressed legal status. Among his many achievements, however, was in London in 1825 founding the National Bank of Ireland.

As the RBS Group’s website notes, O’Connell:

…helped draw up the agreement that established it, spoke at public meetings to drum up support for it, invested in it, attended its first board meetings and, in 1836, was appointed its governor. He became an important figurehead for the new bank and there was even a proposal, not implemented, to put a bust of O’Connell on the bank’s notes.

The National Bank was created with the aim of injecting cash into the rural economy in Ireland, and its charter ensured that half of its returns would accrue to local shareholders in the country. O’Connell, not the best manager of financial affairs, ended up accruing huge personal debts to the bank and had to be quietly bailed out by several others (commencing a tradition of surruptitious banking amongst the nation’s major politicians).

Anyhow, the National Bank expanded across Britain and Ireland. In 1966 its Irish core was sold to the Bank of Ireland, and the English and Welsh branches were acquired by the National Commercial Bank of Scotland (which was a 1959 merger of the National Bank of Scotland and the Commercial Bank of Scotland). This, in turn, merged into the Royal Bank of Scotland in 1969, with the superfluous National Bank branches being turned into Williams & Glyn’s Bank the following year.

Williams & Glyn’s name recalls the 1771 foundation of the London private bank of Williams Deacon’s Bank in London combined with the 1753 house of Vere, Glyn & Hallifax, later known as Glyn, Mills & Co. In 1985 Williams & Glyn’s ceased to trade separately as its operations were fully merged into RBS.

The name, however, is set to return. As a result of the 2008 UK bank bailout package, RBS and NatWest must divest themselves of 307 bank branches in order to comply with EU regulations regarding state aid to banking. These branches, along with their over 250,000 business customers and 1.8 million personal banking customers, will form a new standalone bank under the name of Williams & Glyn.

Published at 4:00 pm on Friday 15 April 2016. Categories: History Ireland Tags: , , .
Comments

Interesting article, up to now the bank’s name lived on in law schools through the case of William and Glyns Bank v Boland a must know case in English land law.

— The Major 16 Apr 2016 7:08 am

Could the ‘new’ bank obtain issuing rights? I think you know where I am going with this…

— Adrian 26 Apr 2016 6:02 am

I like your thinking Adrian, but this bank will only be operating in the UK!

— Andrew Cusack 26 Apr 2016 10:31 am
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